Volume  Fourteen 


Number  One 


SCHOOL  OF  MINES 
AND  METALLURGY 

UNIVERSITY  of  MISSOURI 


BULLETIN 

JANUARY,  1922 

General   Series 


A  SYMPOSIUM  ON  MINING  AND 
METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION 


ROLLA,  MISSOURI 


Entered   as    Second-Class    Matter    January  7,   1911,  at  Post-Office 
at  Holla,  Missouri,  under  the  Aet  of  July  18,  1894.    Issued  Quarterly 


SCHOOL  of  MINES 
and  METALLURGY 

UNIVERSITY  of  MISSOURI 
MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION 


A  Collection  of  Papers  on  the  Subject,  in- 
cluding the  Discussion  Presented  at  the 
Meeting  of  the  Committee  on  Education  and 
Public  Service  of  the  American  Mining 
Congress,  Chicago,  October,  IQ21. 

Edited   by 
Charles  H.  Fulton 


A  LIST  OF  ARTICLES  ON  ENGINEERING 
EDUCATION 

By 
Mrs.   H.   O.   Norvillk,    Librarian 


ROLLA,  MISSOURI 
1922 


COMMITTEE  ON  PUBLICATIONS. 


WILLIAM  DEGARMO  TURNER Professor  of  Chemistry 

MRS.  HOWARD    0.  NORVILLE Librarian 

OSCAR  ADAM  HENNING Instructor  in  German 

PIERRE  CELESTIN  CAMBIAIRE Instructor  in  Spanish 

and   French. 


13) 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


Page. 

The  education  of  a  mining  engineer — T.  A.   Rickard 7 

Symposium  on  mining  education 19 

Papers  and  informal  discussions  at  the  meeting  of  the 
American   Mining   Congress,    October,    1921,   in  re- 
sponse to  a  questionnaire  sent  out  by  the  Committee 
on  Education  and  Public  Service. 
Can  an  efficient  course  in  mining  be  given  in  four  years? 

Robert  Peele 57 

Training  in  college  for  the  practice  of  metallurgy  — Ernest 

A.  Hersam 65 

Remarks  on  technical  education. — Albert  Sauveur 81 

Mining  and  metallurgical  education. — F.  A.  Wildes 83 

Remarks  on  mining  education. — D.  J.  Demorest 86 

Notes  on  the  subject  of  mining  and  metallurgical  educa- 
tion.— G.  Chester  Brown 88 

List  of  references  on  engineering  education. — Mrs.  H.  O. 

Norville 89 


(5) 


BULLETIN 

OF  THE 

School  of  Mines  and  Metallurgy 

UNIVERSITY  OF  MISSOURI 

GENERAL    SERIES 

VOL.   14  JANUARY,   1922.  NO.   1 

SYMPOSIUM  ON  ENGINEERING  EDUCATION. 

The  Education  of  a  Mining  Engineer.  * 

By  T.  A.  Rickard. 

When  starting  a  discussion  it  is  well  to  begin  by  defining  the 
terms  to  be  used.  What  is  a  mining  engineer?  The  word  'mine' 
comes  from  the  Latin  mina,  an  excavation  underground  for  destroy- 
ing a  fortification;  later  it  meant  a  hole  in  Avhich  an  explosive  was 
placed  for  a  belligerent  purpose.  Thus  we  have  the  word  'under- 
mine.'    Hamlet  says: 

"But  I  will  delve  one  yard  below  their  mines, 
And  blow  them  at  the  moon." 

Tho  original  meaning  of  the  word  'mine'  survives  in  'menace,'  a 
threat,  and  in  'minatory,'  a  synonym  for  'threatening.'  The  word 
'engineer'  likewise  comes  to  us  from  the  technology  of  the  Roman 
soldier,  for  it  is  derived  from  ingcnium,  a  military  device,  a  war- 
engine,  a  battering  ram.  The  derivation  is  more  evident  in  the 
French  spelling,  ingenieur.  The  idea  of  inventiveness  survives  in 
the  word  'ingenious,'  and  it  fits  the  engineer,  who  is  skillful  in 
originating.  The  military  connotation  of  the  two  words  'mining' 
and  'engineer'  was  revived  during  the  recent  war,  when  our  pro- 
fessional friends  and  kinsmen  came  from  the  Yukon  and  California, 
from  New  Zealand  and  Missouri,  from  the  remotest  corners  of  the 
earth,  to  join  in  fighting  in  behalf  of  the  great  cause.  One  member 
of  our  profession,  Ralph  S.  G.  Stokes,  who  in  the  first  week  of  the 
war,  went  from  New  York  to  London  to  enlist  as  a  private  in  the 
British  regiment  of  Royal  Engineers  and  rose  by  force  of  merit  to 
the  rank  of  Lieutenant-Colonel,  served  as  'Controller  of   Mines' 


♦Address  delivered  on  the  occasion  of  tho  Semi-Contenary  of  the  School 
of  Mines,  Novembers,  1021. 

(7) 


8  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 

in  Flanders;  he  supervised  the  preparations  for  the  tremendous 
'blow,'  or  explosion,  at  Messines  on  June  6,  1916.  That  was  a 
truly  great  'mine'  in  the  original  sense  of  the  word. 

You  will  recall  Mark  Twain's  definition  of  a  mine  as  "a  hole 
in  the  ground  owned  by  a  liar."  The  definition  is  amusing;  but 
many  an  un.true  word  is  said  in  jest;  the  liar  is  not  the  honest 
prospector  of  whom  we  think  as  the  owner  of  a  young  mine,  but 
a  much  less  responsible  person,  the  promoter,  whose  regard  for 
truth  is  so  great  that  he  rarely  uses  it,  the  so-called  fiscal  agent 
who  converts  an  honest  excavation  into  a  purring  'wild-cat,'  with 
claws — and  whiskers!  I  insist  that  the  mining  engineer  is  con- 
nected with  a  legitimate  form  of  industry,  the  main  purpose  of 
which  is  to  make  money  by  winning  the  valuable  metals  and 
minerals  from  their  rocky  matrix  within  the  crust  of  the  earth. 
The  object  of  mining  is  not — as  is  supposed  by  some — to  spoil  the 
scenery  of  the  beautiful  parts  of  the  earth  or  to  afford  employment 
to  the  sons  and  nephews  of  the  favored  few.  Nor  is  it  the  primary 
purpose  of  mining  to  obtain  cross-sections  for  the  elucidation  of 
geologic  problems  or  to  gather  data  concerning  the  increment  of 
temperature  in  depth.  No;  the  motive  of  mining  is  neither  aca- 
demic nor  altruistic;  it  is,  in  plain  English,  to  make  money,  honestly, 
by  producing  the  metals  and  minerals  essential  to  the  very  existence 
of  our  material  civilization.  Engineering  has  been  defined  as  "the 
art  of  directing  the  great  forces  of  Nature  for  the  use  and  con- 
venience of  man."  That  is  the  motto  of  the  Institution  of  Civil 
Engineers  in  England.  On  the  United  Engineering  Societies 
building  in  New  York  it  is  written:  "Engineering,  the  art  of 
organizing  and  directing  men,  and  controlling  the  forces  and 
materials  of  nature  for  the  benefit  of  the  human  race."  This  is 
idealistic,  and  not  wholly  true,  for  the  art  of  engineering  is  applied 
usually  not  with  benevolent  purpose  but  for  honorable  gain — to 
the  engineer  himself,  to  his  employer,  to  the  community,  but 
rarely  for  the  express  benefit  of  the  human  race.  That  is  too  large 
an  order.  Again,  it  does  not  seem  to  me  correct  to  define  engineering 
as  "the  art  of  organizing  and  directing  men."  That  is  pre- 
eminently the  art  of  the  politician!  A  man  can  be  a  great  engineer 
without  ever  taking  charge  of  the  men  that  do  the  work  of  con- 
struction. He  is  better  for  the  experience,  but  it  is  not  essential 
to  his  art.  However,  when  we  do  think  of  mining  engineering  as 
used  for  the  benefit  of  mankind,  we  think  of  Herbert  C.  Hoover, 
who  applied  his  experience  as  a  manager  of  mines  to  a  great 
humanitarian  task.  He  fed  ten  millions  of  Belgians  and  French 
at  a  total  administrative  expenditure  of  less  than  half  of  1  % — to  be 
exact,  0.42% — of  the  cost  of  the  entire  operation.  That  reminds 
me  of  a  story. 

Several  years  ago  Mr.  Hoover  was  crossing  the  Atlantic  and 
happened  to  sit  at  table  next  to  a  British  gentlewoman  of  the 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION  9 

early  Victorian  type.  After  passing  the  salt  and  offering  the 
Worcester  sauce  once  or  twice,  he  became  acquainted  with  her  as 
one  does  aboard  ship.  He  told  her  of  his  travels  in  China  and 
Mexico,  in  Australia  and  Burma,  and  she  found  the  young  man 
both  agreeable  and  interesting.  Near  the  end  of  the  voyage,  by 
which  time  they  had  become  pleasantly  acquainted,  she  asked 
him,  "What  are  you,  Mr.  Hoover?"  He  answered,  "An  engineer." 
"Oh!"  she  exclaimed,  "I  thought  you  were  a  gentleman!"  She 
thought  an  engineer  was  an  engine-driver;  and  probably  to  her  a 
gentleman  meant  a  person  without  visible  means  of  support.  If 
she  lived  to  the  time  of  the  Great  War  and  read  of  Mr.  Hoover's 
achievements  as  dispenser  of  nutrition  in  Europe  and  as  Food 
Administrator  in  the  United  States,  she  may,  in  her  quiet  home  in 
rural  England,  have  awakened  to  the  fact  that  an  'engineer'  may 
be  several  kinds  of  a  man,  and  sometimes,  as  Shakespeare  says, 
"he  is  a  proper  man's  picture." 

Well,  what  is  a  mining  engineer?  I  know  of  only  one  defini- 
tion that  is  sufficiently  comprehensive:  he  is  a  man  that  does  the 
work  of  a  mining  engineer,  namely,  the  management  of  mines,  the 
examination  and  appraisal  of  them,  the  work  of  surveying  under- 
ground, the  planning  and  devising  of  ways  and  means  for  winning 
ore.  A  degree  from  a  University  or  a  School  of  Mines  does  not 
make  a  mining  engineer;  the  degree  merely  certifies  to  an  adequate 
scholastic  preparation  for  the  work.  Many  graduates  from  mining 
schools  have  never  practiced  the  profession  for  which  they  were 
prepared;  they  have  become  brokers  or  druggists,  for  example. 
On  the  other  hand,  sundry  brokers  and  druggists  have  dropped 
their  original  vocations  and  learned  enough  of  the  art  of  mining 
to  examine  mines,  to  appraise  them,  and  even  to  manage  them. 
When  they  did  that  they  were  mining  engineers — some  of  them 
may  not  have  been  the  best  of  their  kind,  but  they  earned  the 
designation  by  doing  the  work.  I  am  reminded  of  the  New  York 
City  boy  who  was  on  a  summer  excursion  in  the  country  and  asked 
the  teacher,  "What  kind  of  a  'boid'  is  that?"  You  know  that  the 
boys  from  the  East  Side  say  'thoity-thoid'  for  33rd,  'foist'  for  first, 
and  'boid'  for  bird.  So  this  boy  asked,  "What  kind  of  a  'boid'  is 
that?"  The  teacher  said,  "That  is  not  a  'boid',  it  is  a  bird."  "But," 
replied  the  boy,  "it  makes  a  noise  like  a  'boid.'  "  It  did.  So  a  man 
that  makes  a  noise  like  a  mining  engineer — talks  like  one,  does  his 
work  like  one — is  a  mining  engineer,  whether  he  be  duly  certified 
or  not.  In  some  States  he  must  be  licensed,  and  if  he  can  show  a 
diploma  it  is  easier  for  him  to  obtain  a  license — for  example,  a 
shorter  period  of  apprenticeship  is  required — but  otherwise  he  has 
the  same  chance  as  his  friends — for  they  are  friends — whom  we 
may  term  'diplomatic'  because  they  have  diplomas.  It  is  well 
that  this  should  be  so,  for  our  American  ideal  is  the  equality  of 
opportunity;   we  recognize  no  privileged  class,  even  of  scholars; 


10  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 

it  would  be  unfair  to  debar  any  young  man  from  reaping  the 
reward  of  the  training  that  is  acquired  in  irregular  ways,  by  night 
study,  by  association  with  helpful  seniors,  by  reading,  observing, 
and  experiencing  the  things  requisite  to  the  development  of  capac- 
ity as  a  professional  man.  Several  honored  members  of  our 
profession  entered  it  by  the  side-door — not  the  back.  One  dis- 
tinguished veteran  was  a  carpenter  and  the  son  of  a  carpenter, 
with  none  of  the  advantages  typified  by  such  an  institution  as  the 
Missouri  School  of  Mines.  Another  began  life  as  a  sailor;  a  third, 
as  an  accountant;  a  fourth,  as  a  botanist.  I  am  speaking  of  men 
now  acknowledged  to  be  in  the  first  rank.  Many,  of  course,  began 
life  as  laborers  in  mines  and  mills;  starting  to  do  manual  work  when 
their  more  fortunate  comrades  of  the  future  were  still  at  school. 
The  chief  difference  between  them  and  the  'regulars' — those  who 
underwent  the  conventional  training — is  that  they  acquired  their 
knowledge  more  slowly,  more  laboriously,  and  they  reached  posi- 
tions of  emolument  comparatively  late  in  life.  The  chief  purpose 
of  school  or  college  is  to  learn  how  to  learn.  The  preparatory 
school  to  which  I  went  has  for  its  motto:  "  Non  scholae  sed  vitae 
discimus."  "We  learn  not  for  school  but  for  life."  It  is  perfectly 
logical,  for  example,  when  licensing  a  man  as  an  engineer  or  ad- 
mitting him  to  membership  in  a  professional  society,  to  require, 
as  a  qualification,  more  years  of  responsible  service  from  a  non- 
graduate  than  from  a  graduate,  because  an  unschooled  mind'  is 
slower  to  apprehend  than  one  that  has  been  trained. 

Here  we  come  to  the  definition  of  education.  Education  is 
the  process  of  educating;  the  word  is  derived  from  the  Latin  e,  out, 
and  ducere,  to  lead;  it  means  the  leading  out  or  bringing  forth  of 
the  innate  powers  of  an  individual;  it  means  the  bringing  up  or 
rearing  of  a  child;  and  it  applies  to  the  children  of  a  larger  growth, 
to  us  all,  whose  education  continues  throughout  life,  until  our 
mental  faculties  become  atrophied.  'Live'  and  'learn'  are  con- 
joined advisedly,  for  when  we  cease  to  learn  we  may  as  well  die. 
It  is  said  that  John  Richard  Green,  the  historian,  asked  that  his 
epitaph  might  be,  "He  died  learning." 

So  we  have  considered  the  meaning  of  the  terms  used  in  our 
subject,  the  education  of  a  mining  engineer.  It  means  the  proper 
training  of  the  young  man  who  intends  to  do  the  special  work 
that  is  required  in  connection  with  mining.  Mining  is  an  art, 
or  a  skillful  method  of  doing  things;  to  it  the  various  sciences  are 
applied  with  a  view  to  improving  the  method.  So  we  learn  mathe- 
matics, mechanics,  physics,  mineralogy,  and  geology;  the  knowl- 
edge obtained  is  less  important  to  us  than  the  manner  in  which 
it  is  obtained,  for  what  we  learn  in  a  school  or  a  college  is  of  small 
consequence,  and  soon  forgotten,  as  compared  with  the  training 
of  our  mental  faculties  so  that  we  may  be  able  to  think  clearly, 
observe  accurately,  and  state  truthfully.     This  we  cannot  do  unless 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION         11 

we  use  our  language  properly,  for  truthfulness  of  statement  depends 
upon  the  proper  use  of  the  words  that  are  the  symbols  of  thought. 
Therefore  we  engineers  should  learn  how  to  speak  and  write — 
particularly  to  write — intelligently  and  intelligibly.  Of  all  the 
instruments  of  precision  used  by  a  mining  engineer  the  one  that 
he  uses  most  is  his  own  language — the  language  that  came  from  the 
old  country,  from  Chaucer  and  Spenser,  from  Steele  and  Addison, 
from  Shakespeare  and  Milton.  It  is  a  beautiful  language  and  a 
flexible  instrument  of  expression.  Our  mining  engineers  are  well 
grounded  in  the  various  'ologies;'  they  have  been  well  drilled  in 
the  requisite  number  of  sciences;  but  they  do  not  appear  to  see 
the  prime  necessity  of  acquiring  the  one  accomplishment  without 
which  the  others  may  prove  ineffectual.     I  shall  speak  plainly. 

During  recent  years  public  attention  has  been  drawn  to  the 
need  of  teaching  English,  more  particularly  to  those  who  are  under- 
going training  for  an  engineering  career,  because  it  has  become 
recognized  that  our  profession  is  sadly  lacking  in  the  ability  to 
speak  and  write  effectively.  We — you  and  I — may  be  especially 
critical  of  this  defect  because  we  know  that  is  necessary  to  use 
the  language  correctly  in  describing  or  discussing  technical  opera- 
tions and  ideas;  but  defective  English  is  common  to  our  American 
youth  generally — boys  and  girls  alike.  Much  has  been  said  on 
the  subject  and  many  are  the  causes  to  which  these  shortcomings 
are  ascribed.  I  venture  to  be  frank  with  you  in  stating  that  one 
cause  is  our  democratic  way  of  living.  Do  not  mistake  me;  I  am 
keenly  in  sympathy  with  the  democratic  idea;  I  believe  it  to  be 
the  best  stimulus  for  the  further  progress  of  our  civilization,  and 
I  believe  that  the  destiny  of  our  country  is  to  develop  the  idea  of 
democracy  for  the  benefit  not  only  of  ourselves  but  of  the  world 
at  large.  If  we  are  intellectually  honest,  however,  we  must  recog- 
nize the  fact  that  democracy  levels  down  as  well  as  up.  For 
example,  you  and  I,  the  audience  and  the  speaker,  belong  to  the 
professional  class,  a  class  that  is  differentiated  not  by  wealth  but 
by  education,  by  the  possession  and  use  of  brains  that  have  been 
trained  for  our  several  vocations.  Our  children  go  to  the  public 
schools,  which  follow  the  democratic  custom  of  allowing  all  chil- 
dren, of  whatever  class,  to  share  the  same  instruction.  I  use  the 
word  'class'  as  the  equivalent  of  'type,'  not  to  signify  any  recognized 
social  stratification  as  in  Europe.  Our  children  at  school  sit  side 
by  side  with  others  that  come  from  homes  where  defective  English 
is  spoken,  from  the  homes  of  aliens  who  have  not  learned  to  speak 
our  language  properly,  from  the  homes  of  those  of  our  own  native 
stock  who  did  not  go  to  school  in  their  youth  or  who  for  other 
reasons  are  illiterate.  The  children  sit  together  and  they  play 
together,  in  good  democratic  fashion;  they  acquire  the  same  habits 
of  speech;  the  young  negro,  the  young  Japanese,  the  young  Italian, 
the  grocer's  boy,  the  hod-carrier's  son,  the  laborer's  girl,  the  par- 


12  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 

son's  son,  the  professor's  daughter,  all  sympathetically  and  natur- 
ally acquire  the  same  kind  of  language.  The  result  is  that  those 
who  speak  it  badly  learn  to  speak  it  less  badly,  whereas  those  who 
speak  it  well,  learn  to  speak  it  less  well.  That  is  why  the  children 
of  our  professional  men  do  not  speak  as  well  as  their  similars  in 
England,  whereas  the  children  of  the  laborer,  the  hod-carrier,  the 
plumber,  and  the  grocer  speak  and  write  much  better  than  their 
similars  in  the  old  country.  There  the  sons  of  professional  men 
go  to  school  with  the  sons  of  other  professional  men — to  schools 
that  resemble  our  private  schools— where  they  do  not  associate 
with  those  reared  in  illiteracy.  The  effect  is  to  perpetuate  a  social 
distinction;  to  make  good  speech  a  mark  of  class.  We  obliterate  the 
class  distinction,  we  sacrifice  the  facility  for  acquiring  correct 
speech  to  the  supreme  ideal  of  our  democracy,  namely,  an  equality 
of  opportunity.  I  do  not  cavil  at  it;  it  is  worth  while,  but  we 
must  recognize  the  penalty — a  small  one  relatively — that  we  pay 
for  the  sake  of  our  ideal. 

Next  comes  the  question,  should  we  continue  this  system  of 
education  in  common  although  it  have  a  result  prejudicial  to  a 
part  of  the  community?  Speaking  broadly  it  seems  to  me  that 
we  should  continue  to  sacrifice  the  literacy  of  a  few  for  the  sake  of 
educating  the  many,  and  that  a  division  of  our  children  according 
to  class  or  vocation  would  be  a  step  backward;  but  we  can  remedy 
the  obvious  consequence  by  insisting  upon  more  and  better  teach- 
ing of  English  in  our  schools  and  universities.  For  example,  our 
mining  schools  should  make  it  a  part  of  their  duty  to  improve  the 
speech  and  writing  of  their  students  by  maintaining  a  class  in 
English  at  least  for  the  freshmen,  as  most  of  them  do  already,  and 
by  requiring  a  good  standard  of  writing  throughout  the  successive 
years  spent  in  technical  education.  An  examination  paper  in 
mechanics  or  mineralogy,  in  physics  or  geology,  should  be  required 
to  reach  a  standard  not  only  in  the  knowledge  of  the  science  but 
also  in  the  art  of  expression.  It  may  be  said  that  it  is  no  part  of 
the  duty  of  a  School  of  Mines  to  teach  English,  which  should  have 
been  taught  to  the  student  in  the  high-school.  The  answer  is 
that  we  face  a  condition,  not  a  theory;  and  if  the  students  come 
insufficiently  trained  in  a  matter  so  important  as  the  use  of  their 
language,  it  is  only  fair  and  wise  to  give  them  the  necessary  train- 
ing before  it  may  be  too  late.  I  note  that  in  this  School  of  Mines 
three  hours  per  week  during  the  first  and  second  years  are  allotted 
to  English;  in  this  respect  you  set  a  good  example. 

Next  I  shall  refer  to  another  cause  of  poor  speech  and  bad 
writing.  Many  of  our  young  men  seem  to  think  it  democratic  and 
American  to  talk  in  a  slovenly  way;  and  the  habit,  I  think,  affects 
their  writing.  When  college  graduates  start  to  work  at  the  mines 
they  desire  to  seem  "practical"  as  soon  as  possible,  and  in  order  to 
be  friendly  with  the  workmen  they  are  deliberately  careless  in  their 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION         13 

speech,  avoiding  nicety  of  expression  as  if  it  were  effeminate.  Some, 
I  am  sorry  to  say,  appear  to  think  it  necessary  to  imitate  the 
"mucker"  and  acquire  methods  of  speech  common  to  illiterate 
workmen,  as  if  it  were  manly,  as  if  in  protest  against  the  highbrow 
or  academic  cult.  In  consequence,  many  young  fellows  from 
homes  of  refinement,  the  sons  of  well  educated  parents,  the  grad- 
uates of  great  colleges,  the  pupils  of  distinguished  scholars,  talk 
and  write  deplorably.  It  is  a  huge  blunder  to  suppose  that  such 
a  failing  is  either  democratic  or  American.  To  be  either  one  or 
the  other  it  is  not  necessary  to  be  unseemly  in  manner  or  uncouth 
in  speech;  on  the  contrary,  I  say  with  confidence  that  a  young 
American  democrat  should  aim  to  be  as  courteous  in  manner,  as 
decent  in  bearing,  and  as  correct  in  speech  as  any  aristocrat  of  the 
old  world,  but  he  should  be  just  15%  more  intelligent.  It  is  in- 
telligence that  classifies  men  in  a  democracy.  The  greatest  demo- 
crat of  all,  Abraham  Lincoln,  did  not  think  it  improper  to  speak 
and  write  carefully.  In  his  public  utterances,  spoken  or  written, 
he  endeavored  to  use  good  English;  indeed,  he  developed  a  skill 
that  made  his  speeches  and  writings  models  of  classic  excellence. 
It  remains  a  perpetual  miracle  that  a  man  with  so  few  educational 
advantages  should  have  acquired  such  a  mastery  of  the  language 
that  the  best  of  his  utterances  are  unexcelled  in  the  literature  of 
our  race.  The  Gettysburg  speech  and  the  Second  Inaugural  ad- 
dress are,  and  will  remain  forever,  models  of  exquisite  diction  and 
consummate  oratory.  How  did  Lincoln  acquire  this  remarkable 
skill?  First,  he  had  few  books  to  read,  but  they  were  of  the  best: 
the  Bible,  "Pilgrim's  Progress,"  Shakespeare,  Aesop's  "Fables,"  and 
Blackstone.  His  mind  sought  good  company.  He  walked  miles 
to  borrow  a  book  on  grammar  and  he  gave  his  spare  time  to  it 
while  tending  the  village  store.  I  like  to  think  of  young  Lincoln 
lying  at  full  length  on  the  counter  of  Greene's  store  at  New  Salem, 
his  head  propped  on  a  pile  of  calico  prints,  while  he  read  "Kirk- 
ham's  Grammar,"  or  sitting  in  the  shade  of  a  tree  while  he  studied 
Blackstone's  "Commentaries,"  which  he  found  among  some  dis- 
carded papers  at  the  bottom  of  a  barrel.  He  did  not  have  to  read 
the  yellow  press  of  today  or  even  the  dialect  stories  in  our  current 
magazines;  so  he  escaped  the  contagion  of  jargon.  His  Gettys- 
burg speech  contains  only  three  words  not  in  the  Bible;  they  are 
"continent,"  "proposition,"  and  "civil,"  but  all  three  are  to  be  found 
i n  Shakespeare.  He  drank  freely  at  that  well  of  English  undefiled, 
the  King  James  version  of  the  Bible.  The  language  of  the  Bible 
and  of  Shakespeare  is  the  best  part  of  our  familiar  speech.  Here 
1  may  mention  that  now  no  student  at  Harvard  can  receive  his 
degree  without  passing  an  examination  in  the  Bible;  indeed,  the 
authorities  at  Cambridge  rank  the  Bible  and  Shakespeare  as  "two 
works  of  literature  without  which  an  adequate  appreciation  of 
English  letters    is    impossible."     This  rule  is   not   prompted    by 


14  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 

devotional  or  religious  motives,  but  by  the  same  cultural  con- 
siderations as  caused  Huxley  to  advocate  the  reading  of  the  Bible 
in  the  public  schools  of  London.  To  good  books  Lincoln  owed 
much;  but  in  part  his  astonishing  skill  was  due  to  another  cause, 
only  recently  made  known.  He  lived  in  an  illiterate  community 
and  among  people  who  spoke  badly;  when  listening  to  his  associates 
and  hearing  their  yarns  in  the  local  store  he  noted  their  inability 
to  express  themselves  successfully;  he  thought  about  it,  and  made 
the  experiment  of  putting  their  sayings  into  more  careful  language; 
he  would  go  home  and  write  down  the  story  that  had  been  told 
clumsily  and  then  proceed  to  put  it  into  better  words;  that  is,  he 
edited  what  his  friends  had  said.  Thus  he  gained  skill  in  the-  use 
of  speech;  he  realized  that  there  was  a  technique  of  language  and 
he  set  himself  to  acquire  it;  and  he  did  acquire  the  technique  so 
thoroughly  that  his  words,  warmed  by  his  genius  and  glorified  by 
his  spirit,  will  echo  forever  down  the  corridors  of  time. 

So,  gentlemen,  no  American  can  say  that  it.  is  undemocratic 
to  speak  like  a  gentleman  or  to  write  like  a  scholar.  On  the  con- 
trary, we  technical  men,  who  have  to  deal  with  subjects  requiring 
precise  presentation,  should  be  particularly  desirous  of  using  the 
instrument  of  expression  with  care.  The  difference  between  good 
and  bad  writing  is  chiefly  the  difference  between  being  careful  and 
being  careless.  It  is  not  difficult  if  one  desires  to  do  so,  to 
learn  to  write  respectably.  To  acquire  the  art  of  Lincoln, 
of  Ruskin,  or  of  Stevenson  there  is  needed  more  than  care, 
more  than  conscious  effort;  but  ordinary  skill,  sufficient  for 
most  of  us,  can  be  acquired  by  anyone  willing  to  take  pains. 
Genius  has  been  described  as  one  part  inspiration  and  nine 
parts  perspiration;  we  can  be  nine-tenths  of  a  genius  if  we 
have  the  capacity  for  working  with  sincerity  of  purpose.  Only 
recently  I  overheard  a  woman  say  to  m  her  companion  in  a 
suburban  train:  "I'd  like  to  be  able  to  write  clearly  without 
stopping  to  think  about  it."  She  was  one  of  many,  of  those  who 
would  like  to  do  a  thing  well  without  the  trouble  of  thinking;  but 
it  cannot  be  done  in  respect  of  anything  to  which  thought  is  essen- 
tial. However,  she  was  not  unlike  some  of  my  young  friends  in 
the  mining  engineering  profession  who  use  the  chisel  of  language 
as  if  it  were  a  screw-driver.  It  is  astonishing  how  many  graduates 
from  universities  will  write:  "The  data  is  sufficient,"  "the  propa- 
ganda are  objectionable,"  "the  agenda  was  printed."  An  Assistant 
Principal  in  a  School  of  Metallurgy  wrote  to  me  that  he  observed 
"this  same  phenomena  in  other  kinds  of  glass;"  and,  as  if  to  show 
that  the  error  was  not  inadvertent,  he  repeated  it  twice.  When  I 
wrote  in  a  kindly  way  to  warn  him,  he  apologized,  but  intimated 
that  he  was  rather  pleased  with  his  skill  in  writing.  How  often 
we  read  of  proposals  to  tax  "the  necessities  of  life,"  as  if  being 
subject  to  necessities  were  not  sufficient  cause  for  unhappiness 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION         15 

without  our  being  taxed  on  account  of  them.  The  tax  is  levied  on 
the  "necessaries,"  the  staple  articles,  not  the  necessities  that  they 
satisfy.  This  use  of  the  abstract  instead  of  the  concrete  is  charac- 
teristic of  the  windy  utterances  of  politicians.  It  reminds  me  of 
the  Babu — a  half-educated  Hindoo — who,  when  declining  an  in- 
vitation on  account  of  the  death  of  his  mother,  wrote:  "Regret 
I  cannot  come,  the  hand  that  rocked  the  cradle  has  kicked  the 
bucket." 

Well,  I  have  said  enough  concerning  one  phase  of  the  educa- 
tion of  mining  engineers;  if  I  say  more  you  will  charge  me  with 
attempting  to  make  journalists  of  them.  After  all,  before  one 
writes  one  must  have  something  to  say.  As  to  that,  I  doubt  if 
any  men  have  more  opportunities  to  gain  information  and  to  see 
the  world  at  large  than  the  members  of  our  profession.  American 
engineers  have  gone  to  the  remotest  corners  of  the  globe,  follow- 
ing the  lead  of  their  British  comrades.  In  South  Africa  and 
Western  Australia  they  have  made  their  mark;  in  Canada  and 
South  America  they  fill  today  many  of  the  chief  positions  in  the 
management  of  famous  mining  enterprises.  They  have  partici- 
pated in  the  development  of  the  principal  mines  of  Siberia.  Just 
now  the  shrinkage  of  capital  and  the  temporary  abatement  of  the 
spirit  of  mining  adventure  have  restricted  their  activities  abroad, 
but  the  time  is  coming  when  they  will  be  called  again  in  large 
numbers  to  foreign  fields  of  activity.  The  reason  they  are  wanted 
is  because  they  are  efficient,  particularly  in  their  clear-headed 
appreciation  of  the  business  side  of  mining,  plus  an  intimate 
acquaintance  with  the  latest  technology.  The  United  States  can 
boast  many  excellent  mining  schools — that  of  Missouri  is  one — but 
the  reason  why  our  men  are  effective  is  due  to  the  larger  fact  that 
the  United  States  is  a  great  mining  country;  indeed,  it  is  a  conti- 
nental area  in  which  are  found  many  mining  regions  of  diversified 
character,  yielding  nearly  every  one  of  the  metals  and  minerals  re- 
quired by  our  material  civilization.  We  may  be  short  of  tin  and  anti- 
mony; we  may  not  possess  deposits  of  chrome  and  manganese  so 
generous  as  those  to  be  found  elsewhere;  but  in  a  broad  way  our 
country  is  exceptionally  endowed  with  mineral  resources.  There- 
fore it  offers  a  post-graduate  school  of  mining  unsurpassed  in  the 
world  at  any  period  of  human  history. 

Another  condition  favorable  to  the  development  of  eompetenl 
mining  engineers  in  the  United  States  is  the  social  status  of  our 
profession.  If  one  of  you  were  to  take  a  young  Englishwoman 
in  to  dinner  and  ask  her  what  was  her  idea  of  a  mining  engineer,  she 
would  say,  probably:  "A  somewhat  nomadic  person  connected 
with  queer  doings  on  the  Stock  Exchange."  An  American  girl 
would  reply  differently;  she  would,  I  believe,  intimate  that  the 
mining  engineer  was  a  half-back  with  a  scientific  education,  com- 
petent to  dig  gold  out  of  the  ground  and  to  manage  men  at  least 


16  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 

as  well  as  the  colonel  of  a  regiment.  In  England  the  mining 
engineer  ranks  socially  below  the  officers  of  the  army  and  navy, 
below  the  barrister  and  physician,  below  the  people  who  live  on 
the  rents  from  land  and  the  coupons  from  bonds;  indeed,  the  pro- 
fession is  so  young  compared  with  the  survivals  of  an  ancient 
system  that  it  has  not  yet  come  into  its  own.  In  our  country  the 
mining  engineer  may  call  at  the  White  House  and  shake  hands  with 
the  President  as  a  matter  of  course.  When  Cecil  Rhodes  estab- 
lished his  scholarships  at  Oxford  he  aimed  to  promote  international 
goodwill,  but,  although  he  had  gained  his  wealth  in  mining,  it  did 
not  occur  to  him  to  found  a  College  of  Mines  at  Oxford.  If  he 
had  done  that,  he  would  have  accomplished  a  great  benefaction 
for  the  profession  and  for  the  mining  industry  of  the  British  empire, 
but  such  an  educational  foundation  would  have  been  a  complete 
departure  from  British  tradition — especially  at  Oxford,  ''the  home 
of  lost  causes  and  forsaken  beliefs."  In  our  own  country  the 
chief  mining  schools  are  attached  to,  or  are  integral  parts  of,  our 
universities.  That  is  as  it  should  be.  Most  of  our  engineers 
have  enjoyed  some  of  the  advantages  of  a  university  education 
along  with  their  technical  training.  It  is  becoming  recognized 
that  the  preparation  for  a  bread-and-butter  dependency,  for  a 
salaried  "job,"  is  not  an  education  in  its  true  sense,  and  that  to 
make  men  of  real  worth,  likely  to  be  happy  and  useful,  prepared 
to  do  the  work  of  the  world  as  effective  citizens,  there  must  be 
some  culture,  some  bringing  forth  of  the  faculties  that  distinguish 
homo  sapiens  from  the  rest  of  the  genus  homo.  "Man  does  not  live 
by  bread  alone."  If  our  great  experiment  in  democracy  is  to 
succeed  it  will  be  by  reason  of  "the  moral  worth  and  intellectual 
clearness  of  the  individual  citizen."  The  mob  can  not  help,  nor 
will  the  yellow  press;  education  can  do  it  by  bringing  the  right 
men  into  leadership.  The  University  of  Missouri  and  its  School 
of  Mines  can  forward  the  consummation  of  a  great  ideal,  and  I 
feel  confident  that  they  will. 

It  has  been  my  privilege  to  know  most  of  the  leading  mining 
engineers  of  the  world,  in  this  and  in  other  countries,  during  the 
last  thirty  years,  and  I  am  informed  concerning  the  careers  of 
many  of  them.  In  a  broad  way  they  are  an  exhibit  for  the  educa- 
tional methods  of  the  last  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
What  can  we  learn  from  their  biographies? 

In  the  first  place,  the  successful  mining  engineer — the  man  who 
has  won  the  esteem  of  his  fellows  and  established  himself  in  an 
extensive  and  lucrative  practice  as  a  manager  of  mines  or  as  a 
consulting  engineer — is  not  always  a  college  graduate  nor  even  a 
man  trained  in  a  mining  school.  About  one  in  seven  has  missed 
these  advantages.  I  use  the  word  "missed"  advisedly,  for  if  he 
had  been  better  educated  he  would  have  been  even  more  useful  and 
efficient.     The  lack  of  educational  advantages  and  the  compara- 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION        17 

tive  poverty  of  his  parents  to  which  this  was  due  have  had  the 
effect,  however,  of  compelling  him  to  work  harder  and  have  tended 
more  strongly  to  develop  his  character — to  make  him  industrious 
and  self-reliant.  To  be  given  a  good  education  and  to  start  life 
without  the  urgent  need  of  earning  a  living  is  not  always  the  best 
thing  for  a  young  man,  especially  if  he  lack  initiative  and  ambition. 
In  a  democracy,  as  in  other  types  of  social  organizations,  it  will  be 
found  that~those  who  are  born  with  a  silver  spoon  in  the  mouth 
are  likely  to  die  with  gold  filling  in  the  teeth,  without  having  accom- 
plished anything  more  decorative.  It  is  proper  that  we  should 
admire  the  man  who  makes  his  own  way.  For  example,  your  own 
most  distinguished  alumnus  started  life  as  a  poor  orphan  lad, 
reared  on  a  small  farm;  he  earned  money  for  his  schooling  by  hard 
work;  by  dint  of  personal  effort  he  won  his  way  to  this  School  of 
Mines  and  here  obtained  the  lever  by  which  he  opened  the  world 
oyster,  in  the  shape  of  the  greatest  copper  mine  on  this  continent. 
To  give  an  education  to  such  men  is  the  finest  investment  a  nation 
can  make. 

When  I  review  the  life-histories  of  the  men  whom  I  admire 
and  respect  I  realize  how  much  their  university  education  has 
expedited  their  mental  development  and  hastened  their  arrival  at 
positions  of  influence.  Only  men  of  extraordinary  force  of  charac- 
ter have  been  able  to  achieve  success  without  such  help,  and,  it  is 
sad  to  say,  they  represent  the  few  survivors  of  hundreds  who  failed 
for  the  lack  of  such  help.  In  the  days  to  come  the  chances  of  the 
unprepared  will  be  even  less,  for  the  demands  made  upon  engineers 
in  the  way  of  scientific  training,  will  become  increasingly  exacting. 

Much  of  men's  success  seems  to  be  due  to  accident.  This 
one  was  lucky  in  making  the  acquaintance  and  arousing  the  per- 
sonal interest  of  a  leader;  that  one  happened  to  be  on  hand  when  a 
particular  post  had  to  be  filled  in  a  hurry;  another  had  the  special 
experience  required  for  a  special  piece  of  important  work  at  a 
given  time  and  place;  a  fourth  had  personal  qualities  that  won  the 
goodwill  of  the  president  of  a  company  or  tho  manager  of  a  big 
mine — and,  needless  to  say,  gentlemen,  I  rate  the  manager  of  a 
mine  above  the  president  of  a  company.  So  it  seems  as  if  much 
of  life  were  fortuitous;  as  if  men  became  successful  through  acci- 
dent. This  is  a  superficial  view;  on  the  contrary,  it  will  be  found, 
on  closer  scrutiny,  that  the  success  is  due  to  the  man  being  ready 
for  his  chance;  to  his  having  prepared  himself  for  many  contin- 
gencies, so  that  when  opportunity  knocked  at  the  door  he  was 
ready  to  rise  and  give  instant  welcome  1o  the  visitor.  Our  own 
deeds  are  our  doomsmen. 


"There  is  a  tide  in  the  affairs  of  men, 

Which,  taken  at  the  flood"  [to  which  Byron  added] — "you  know  the  rest, 
And  most  of  us  have  found  it,  now  and  then; 

At  least  we  think  so,  though  hut  few  have  guessed 
The  moment,  till  too  late  to  come  again." 


18  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 

Some,  like  children,  only  wade  in  the  shallows  and  so  fail  to 
feel  the  greater  impulse  out  at  sea;  they  fear  to  swim  in  deep  water 
and  are  left  behind,  high  and  dry.  Our  life  is  as  "the  sands  betwixt 
two  tides." 

The  difference  between  men  is  chiefly  the  difference  of  charac- 
ter. Education  develops  character — that  is  the  very  essence  of 
education.  A  man  of  character  goes  through  the  shoals  of  cir- 
cumstance as  a  ship  directed  by  a  captain  with  a  compass  and  a 
chart;  a  man  lacking  character  is  like  a  ship  without  control  that 
drifts  upon  the  reef  and  suffers  shipwreck.  Herbert  Spencer  said 
that  "of  all  the  ends  to  be  kept  in  view  ,  .  .all  are  unimportant 
compared  to  the  end  of  character-making.  This  alone  is  national 
education."  In  the  last  resort  mere  cleverness  will  not  take  a 
man  far;  there  is  needed  something  more  dependable,  and  dependa- 
bility is  character.  A  man  of  character  will  act  in  the  same  way 
under  the  same  conditions.  Give  a  man  of  character  a  liberal 
education  and  he  becomes  the  finest  product  of  our  civilization. 
It  is  the  product  that  an  educational  institution  such  as  yours 
aims  to  give  to  the  United  States — worth  more  than  much  fine 
gold  or  a  million  tons  of  copper.  A  liberal  education  is  the  aim 
of  all  true  scholastic  effort;  but  there  is  no  complete  agreement  as 
to  the  necessary  curriculum.  After  all,  a  liberal  education  is  the 
product  of  an  ideal  that  transcends  the  curricula  of  the  schools. 
Permit  me  to  quote  from  the  greatest  expositor  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  Thomas  Henry  Huxley: 

"That  man,  I  think,  has  had  a  liberal  education  who  has  been 
so  trained  in  his  youth  that  his  body  is  the  ready  servant  of  his 
will,  and  does  with  ease  and  pleasure  all  the  work  that,  as  a  mechan- 
ism, it  is  capable  of;  whose  intellect  is  a  cold-logic  engine,  with 
all  its  parts  of  equal  strength  and  in  smooth  working  order;  ready, 
like  a  steam-engine,  to  be  turned  to  any  kind  of  work,  and  spin 
the  gossamers  as  well  as  forge  the  anchors  of  the  mind;  whose 
mind  is  stored  with  a  knowledge  of  the  great  and  fundamental 
truths  of  Nature  and  of  the  laws  of  her  operations;  one  who,  no 
stunted  ascetic,  is  full  of  life  and  fire,  but  whose  passions  are  trained 
to  come  to  heel  by  a  vigorous  will,  the  servant  of  a  tender  con- 
science; who  has  learned  to  love  all  beauty,  whether  of  Nature  or 
of  art,  to  hate  all  vileness,  and  to  respect  others  as  himself." 

Huxley  was  the  Dean  of  the  Faculty  of  the  Royal  School  of 
Mines — my  alma  mater — a  school  that  was  royal  not  by  reason  of 
kingly  patronage  but  because  it  had  for  teachers  such  men  as 
Huxley,  John  Tyndall,  Lyon  Playfair,  Edward  Forbes,  and  John 
W.  Judd.  Gentlemen,  permit  me  to  transmit  to  you  this  descrip- 
tion of  a  liberal  education  as  the  greeting  of  the  Royal  School  of 
Mines  of  London  to  the  School  of  Mines  of  Missouri  on  the  occasion 
of  its  50th  anniversary. 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION        19 


SYMPOSIUM  ON  MINING  EDUCATION. 

The  meeting  of  the  Committee  on  Education  and  Public 
Service,  American  Mining  Congress,  October,  1921,  was  attended 
by  the  representatives  of  fifteen  educational  institutions  that  give 
courses  in  mining  and  metallurgical  engineering.  As  a  preliminary 
to  the  meeting  a  questionnaire  was  sent  to  educational  institutions 
offering  courses  in  mining  and  metallurgy.  This  questionnaire  is 
as  follows: 

SYMPOSIUM  ON  MINING  EDUCATION. 

1.  What  should  be  the  scope  and  content  of  a  course  in  Min- 
ing or  Metallurgy? 

2.  Can  the  co-operative  system  in  Engineering  as  practiced 
by  the  University  of  Cincinnati  be  successfully  applied  in  a  min- 
ing and  metallurgical  education? 

3.  What  is  the  best  way  to  make  room  in  a  mining  or  metal- 
lurgical course  for  the  constantly  increasing  number  of  technical 
subjects  which  apparently  should  be  included? 

4.  What  are  the  basic  elements  of  a  mining  and  metallurgical 
course? 

5.  Should  the  mining  and  metallurgical  course  as  ordinarily 
given  be  recast  and  rebuilt  and  if  so  on  what  basis? 

6.  Are  four  years  enough  for  a  course  in  mining  or  metal- 
lurgy, taking  into  consideration  all  elements  that  enter  into  this 
problem? 

7.  How  is  the  subject  of  mining  best  taught? 

8.  How  is  the  subject  of  metallurgy  best  taught? 

9.  How  much  mathematics  should  there  be  in  the  mining 
course?     In  the  metallurgy  course? 

10.  What  is  the  best  way  of  teaching  English  to  Engineering 
students? 

11.  Should  the  English  for  Engineering  students  be  technical 
and  limited  in  character  or  broad  and  include  literature? 

Written  papers  were  submitted  and  the  questions  were  also 
discussed  informally  at  the  meeting  and  practically  all  of  the 
material  is  published  in  this  bulletin. 


20  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 


ANSWERS  TO   QUESTIONS  OF  THE  SYMPOSIUM 
ON  MINING  EDUCATION. 

[D.  C.  Livingston,  Oregon  State  Agricultural  College.] 

1.  I  think  the  scope  and  content  is  pretty  well  covered  by 
most  of  the  present  mining  school  curricula,  except  for  the  fact 
that  the  general  mining  and  metallurgical  curriculum  is  often  too 
narrow,  and  should  be  broadened  to  include  more  subjects  of 
educational  value  which  the  student  cannot  get  outside  in  after 
life,  except  by  considerable  effort. 

2.  Not  in  a  position  to  answer  this,  but  do  not  think  it  very 
practicable. 

3.  Leave  them  out  of  a  four-year  course. 

4.  Basic  sciences  such  as  Chemistry,  Physics,  Mathematics 
and  Geology,  with  their  application  to  the  work  of  mining  and 
metallurgy,  and  also  the  ability  to  write  and  speak  corrrect  English. 
Drafting  and  surveying  should  also  be  included. 

5.  Yes,  I  believe  it  should  on  the  following  basis:  Have  the 
basic  sciences,  such  as  Chemistry,  Physics,  etc.,  taught  by  mining 
engineers  and  metallurgists  who  would  illustrate  the  fundamental 
principles  by  actual  examples  in  metallurgical  practice  and  mine 
plant  design.  This  would  be  a  great  time  saver  and  would  elimi- 
nate a  lot  of  lost  motion  which  exists  at  the  present  time  between 
the  fundamental  sciences  and  their  application.  It  would  enable 
such  courses  as  Metallurgy  and  Mining  Engineering  to  be  much 
reduced,  and  more  time  would  be  available  for  the  student  to  get 
an  education  as  well  as  technical  training.  The  latter  is  all  he  gets 
under  the  present  system. 

The  principles  of  geology  are  always  illustrated  by  actual 
natural  examples,  as  well  as  by  laboratory  experiments.  Why  not 
do  the  same  with  Chemistry  for  instance,  and  in  addition  to  the 
laboratory  experiments,  illustrate  its  application  to  metallurgy, 
and  thus  impress  the  student's  mind  with  the  principles  and 
practice  at  the  same  time.  This  I  believe  would  be  preferable  to 
the  disconnected  manner  in  which  these  subjects  are  now  taught. 
In  the  same  way,  why  not,  in  certain  cases,  have  Descriptive 
Geometry  taught  to  mining  students  by  a  geologist,  as  there  is 
surely  no  other  place  where  it  is  more  useful  to  be  able  to  visualize 
on  two  or  more  planes. 

6.  I  think  four  years  are  long  enough  for  an  under  graduate 
course  in  Mining  or  Metallurgy  if  it  is  sufficiently  broad.  If  a 
student  wishes  to  specialize  in  any  particular  subject,  he  should 
take  that  as  post  graduate  work,  possibly  after  a  year  or  two  of 
practical  work. 

7.  and  8.  Could  be  answered  in  so  many  different  ways  that 
I  do  not  care  to  discuss  it. 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION        21 

9.  I  do  not  think  that  Calculus  is  of  inestimable  value  in 
either  mining  or  metallurgy  as  it  is  now  considered. 

10.  and  11.  I  believe  that  some  guide  along  lines  of  literature 
should  be  given  to  students.  Possibly  certain  novels  or  books 
assigned  for  summer  reading,  and  an  examination  in  the  fall  held 
with  some  discussion  later,  as  well  as  the  technical  side  of  the 
English  language. 

12.  If  it  is  the  consensus  of  opinion  among  the  engineering 
profession  and  the  public  in  general  that  a  technically-trained 
man  along  one  line  is  an  educated  man,  then  I  think  the  mining 
and  engineering  schools  are  performing  their  duty  well  and  efficient- 
ly on  the  whole.  If  on  the  other  hand,  an  educated  man  is  con- 
sidered to  be  one  who  possesses  a  knowledge  of  the  government  of 
his  country,  a  knowledge  of  humanity  gained  from  the  past  his- 
tory of  mankind,  a  knowledge  of  more  than  one  language  than  his 
own,  a  knowledge  of  business  methods,  and  at  least  a  speaking 
acquaintance  with  the  literature  of  his  language,  in  addition  to  a 
knowledge  of  the  basic  sciences  necessary  to  his  profession,  then 
it  is  evident  that  the  technical  schools  are  not  turning  out  educated 
men.  The  men  that  they  are  turning  out  are  but  a  slight  degree 
better  educated  than  a  highly  skilled  carpenter  or  mechanic.  It 
is  my  belief  that  if  an  equal  number  of  young  men  took  a  four 
years'  course  at  college,  one  of  which  was  along  broad  educational 
lines  with  surveying  and  assaying  included  and  some  lectures  on 
the  mining  industry  and  its  relation  to  the  sciences,  and  the  other 
group  took  the  present  narrow  prescribed  courses  and  both  entered 
the  mining  profession,  from  ten  to  twenty  years  after  graduation 
the  first  group  would  be  more  likely  to  contain  the  higher  per- 
centage of  leaders  or  men  well  up  in  the  profession. 


22  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 


ANSWERS  TO   QUESTIONS  OF  THE  SYMPOSIUM 
ON  MINING  EDUCATION. 

[Charles  E.  Newton.   Oregon  State  Agricultural  College] 

1.  The  scope  of  a  modern  course  in  Mining  and  Metallurgy 
should  include  basic  courses  necessary  to  the  solution  of  the 
technical  mining  and  metallurgical  problems.  A  training  in 
mathematics,  physics,  chemistry,  anjd  drawing,  taught  with  the 
idea  that  they  are  not  taught  for  the  sake  of  themselves,  but 
taught  with  the  idea  that  they  are  tools  to  be  used  in  the  solution 
of  problems  that  are  to  follow  in  the  business.  In  conjunction 
with  these  subjects,  a  thorough  grounding  in  the  geologic  sciences 
and  in  the  arts  of  mining  and  metallurgy. 

2.  At  the  present  time  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  it  is  im- 
practical to  have  a  co-operative  system  in  Mining  and  Metallurgy 
as  is  practiced  in  the  University  of  Cincinnati.  It  might  be  possible 
that  a  co-operative  system  of  this  kind  could  be  carried  on  in  the 
ferrous  mining  and  metallurgical  line. 

3.  The  best  way  to  make  room  in  a  mining  and  metallurgical 
course  for  the  increased  number  of  technical  subjects  is  to  require 
all  the  students  who  enter  mining  courses  to  have  had  one  or  two 
years'  training  in  a  general  science  course  of  a  university  nature. 
The  student  will  then  be  prepared  to  master  more  quickly  and 
more  thoroughly  the  basic  sciences  necessary  in  the  mining  and 
metallurgical  curricula. 

4.  A  thorough  understanding  of  physics,  chemistry,  mathe- 
matics, and  drawing, — drawing  with  the  idea  of  expressing  facts 
in  a  graphical  way. 

5-  All  engineering  courses  should  be  recast  on  the  following 
line:  The  student  should  have  a  general  college  or  university 
education  before  entering  the  school.  If  this  arrangement  could 
be  complied  with,  technical  graduates  would  be  better  educated 
and  better  trained,  technically.  As  it  is  at  the  present  time,  most 
of  them  are  poorly  educated  and  not  very  well  trained  technically. 

6.  Four  years  are  not  time  enough  for  a  course  in  mining 
and  metallurgy.  How  much  time  is  required,  I  am  not  prepared 
to  say.  I  do  believe,  however,  that  four  years  is  more  than  time 
enough  for  the  technical  side  if  the  student  has  a  good  general 
education  before  he  attempts  to  receive  his  technical  training. 

7.  The  subject  of  mining  is  best  taught  by  lectures,  illus- 
trated as  well  as  descriptive,  mining  trips  to  actual  mining  opera- 
tions, with  complete  notes,  sketches  and  photographs  of  the  opera- 
tions visited  and  studied. 

8.  Same  for  metallurgy  as  for  mining. 

9.  Enough  mathematics  to  solve  general  mining  and  metal- 
lurgical problems.     That  would   perhaps  include  a   good   under- 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION        23 

standing  of  algebra;  good  training  in  trigonometry;  good  training 
in  descriptive  geometry;  elementary  training  in  calculus.  My 
idea  along  this  line  is  that  these  subjects  be  not  taught  for  mathe- 
matics sake,  but  be  taught  in  the  technical  training  courses,  as  a 
tool  to  be  used  in  the  solution  of  a  problem — not  purely  for  the 
solution  of  some  mathematical  dream. 

10.  The  best  way  to  teach  English  to  engineering  students 
is  to  teach  them  to  write  technically  after  they  have  been  taught 
to  read  and  appreciate  our  better  authors  of  classical  literature. 


24  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 


ANSWERS  TO   QUESTIONS  OF  THE   SYMPOSIUM 
ON  MINING  EDUCATION. 

[J.  H.  Batcheller,  Oregon  State  Agricultural  College. 

1.  In  my  opinion,  the  scope  and  content  is  very  well  covered 
by  the  required  studies  for  a  degree  in  Mining  in  the  School  of 
Mines  here. 

2.  For  those  Schools  of  Mines  which  are  conveniently  located 
in  the  neighborhood  of  operating  mines,  I  should  think  a  co- 
operative system  of  engineering  education  could  be  applied  success- 
fully. For  those  institutions  which  are  geographically  remote 
from  active  mining  operations,  I  should  think  it  would  be  imprac- 
ticable. The  same  answer  applies  to  metallurgical  operations, 
whether  fire  or  hydrometallurgy. 

3.  In  my  opinion  there  is  no  way,  good  or  otherwise,  to 
constantly  crowd  the  curriculum  of  the  School  of  Mines  with  the 
new  technical  subjects,  and  continue  granting  degrees  in  a  four- 
year  period.  The  best  solution  in  my  mind  is  adhering  faithfully 
to  the  old  idea  of  thorough  grounding  in  the  basic  elements  of  the 
mining  and  metallurgical  work,  and  giving  those  other  courses  as 
options  for  those  who  have  extra  time,  or  as  advanced  standing 
subjects  for  those  who  can  put  in  more  than  four  years'  school 
attendance. 

4.  The  basic  elements  in  my  opinion  are  now  as  they  have 
always  been:  Mathematics,  Chemistry,  Physics,  Geology,  Draw- 
ing, Applied  Mechanics,  Technical  Electricity,  Surveying,  Hy- 
draulics, and  all  the  various  subdivisions  of  the  strictly  mining, 
metallurgical  and  geological  subjects. 

5.  I  don't  know  but  what  it  would  be  best  to  recast  the  min- 
ing and  metallurgical  courses  with  the  idea  of  requiring  all  students 
to  pass  through  a  two-year  course  of  semi- vocational  nature, 
which  would  include  practical  work  as  indicated  in  answer  to 
Question  2.  For  this  they  would  get  a  certificate  but  not  a  degree. 
Only  to  those  whose  practical  and  academic  standards  showed  they 
had  genuine  ability  might  be  offered  a  four-year  stiff  course  in  the 
advanced  theoretical  work  leading  to  a  degree  of  Engineer  of 
Mines.  This  would  give  time  to  include  many  of  the  desirable, 
but  at  present  impossible  extra  technical  subjects.  The  above 
proposed  six-year  course  leading  to  the  degree  of  E.  M.  is  based  on 
the  supposition  that  the  present  method  of  teaching  Mathematics, 
Chemistry,  Physics,  Descriptive  Geometry,  and  Applied  Mech- 
anics be  continued  by  instructional  staff  outside  of  that  of  the  School 
of  Mines. 

If,  however,  it  were  possible  to  so  provide  that  for  all  students 
of  mining,  the  instructors  in  the  above  basic  subjects  just  men- 
tioned could  be  mining  engineers  and  geologists  of  practical  ex- 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION         25 

perience  as  well  as  high  theoretical  attainments,  then  the  course 
of  work  in  these  basic  subjects  could  be  taught  with  just  as  much 
thoroughness  with  regard  to  the  fundamental  principles  involved, 
and  in  addition  the  students  would  get  a  far  greater  grasp  and 
understanding  of  the  practical  value  of  each  of  these  items  as 
applied  to  their  mining  work  through  the  practical  illus- 
trations that  these  experienced  instructors  could  use  to  illum- 
inate their  subjects.  This  would  reduce  the  present  lost  mo- 
tion, because  it  seems  to  be  the  invariable  condition  that  the 
student  in  Descriptive  Geometry  has  to  practically  review  that 
subject  when  his  time  comes  to  study  geologic  faulting  problems. 
The  same  condition  seems  to  be  a  normal  state  of  affairs  with  regard 
to  many  of  the  other  practical  applications  of  applied  science. 
By  the  elimination  of  this  lost  motion,  a  saving  of  time  woul  d  be 
accomplished.  During  the  time  thus  saved,  I  would  recommend 
that  it  be  divided  and  a  portion  added  to  that  already  devoted  to 
each  of  the  following  cultural  subjects,  namely,  English  Literature 
and  Composition,  History  and  Governments  of  the  World,  and 
Political  Economy. 

Of  the  two  plans  or  outlines  I  have  given  above  in  answer  to 
Question  5,  I  personally  favor  the  latter,  but  presume  that  it 
would  be  too  expensive  in  salaries.  Surely  the  qualifications 
necessary  to  secure  the  type  of  instructional  staff  outlined  as  neces- 
sary for  this  scheme,  would  not  be  obtainable  except  at  what 
would  probably  at  this  time  be  considered  prohibitively  high 
figures. 

6.  This  is  answered  by  my  reply  to  No.  5. 

7.  Mining  is  best  taught,  in  my  opinion,  by  means  of  lectures 
and  explanatory  comments,  referring  to  references  assigned  for 
reading,  supplemented  by  visits  some  time  before  graduation  to 
operating  properties.  This  method  would  also  include  recitations 
and  quizzes,  to  develop  the  understanding  to  which  the  students 
have  been  able  to  follow  tho  lectures  and  reading  assignments. 
While  not  now  feasible  on  account  of  the  expense,  I  believe  it 
would  be  a  vast  improvement  if  some  synthetically  constructed 
moving  pictures  could  be  made  to  illustrate  many  of  the  compli- 
cated operations  of  the  modern  caving  methods  of  mining,  showing 
in  fifteen  minutes  the  successive  steps  of  a  cycle  of  operations 
which  might  in  actual  practice  require  two  or  three  years  for 
completion,  and  be  so  complicated  that  it  would  be  impossible  to 
express  them  satisfactorily  by  any  few  simple  diagrammatic 
drawings. 

8.  I  see  no  better  way  of  teaching  Metallurgy  than  seems  to 
be  universally  employed,  namely,  Lectures,  recitations,  laboratory 
work  based  on   tho  above,    supplemented    by   visits  to  operating 

plants. 


26  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 

9.  With  regard  to  Mathematics  in  either  mining  or  metal 
lurgical  courses,  I  am  not  at  all  satisfied  that  it  is  inevitable  and 
necessary  that  the  students  must  drag  their  weary  way  through 
all  the  calculus  now  required.  I  am  not  in  a  position  to  offer  a 
substitute  suggestion,  but  think  that  inside  of  another  twenty 
years,  there  will  be  a  change  in  attitude  towards  calculus,  except 
for  men  of  special  calibre  for  highly  technical  design  work.  Cal- 
culus will  then  probably  be  looked  upon  very  much  as  the  present 
day  public  looks  upon  the  necesity  for  Latin  and  Greek  as  a  pre- 
paration for  the  modern  boy's  life  work.  For  a  long  while  it  was 
thought  that  no  other  subject  could  be  found  equal  to  the  Latin 
and  Greek  of  old,  but  I  think  that  idea  has  been  proven  to  be  a 
mistake. 

10.  and  11.  Regarding  these,  I  think  one  answer  covers  both. 
The  present  method  of  teaching  English  to  engineering  students 
by  means  of  lectures  and  compositions  seems  to  be  all  right,  pro- 
vided, however,  that  the  students  be  allowed  to  write  compositions 
on  some  subjects  in  which  they  have  personal  and  genuine  interest, 
presumably  on  some  phase  of  mining,  metallurgical,  or  geological 
work.  By  all  means  I  consider  the  English  training  should  require 
broad  and  comprehensive  reading  of  the  fine  things  in  classics, 
supplemented  by  explanatory  lectures  to  help  them  grasp  the 
value  and  meaning  of  such. 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION        27 


MINUTES   OF  THE   MEETINGS   OF   THE   COM- 
MITTEE ON  EDUCATION  AND  PUBLIC 
SERVICE,  AMERICAN  MINING 
CONGRESS. 

October  18,  19,  1921. 

The  meetings  were  held  in  the  Congress  Hotel,  Chicago.  An 
invitation  to  attend  the  meetings  of  the  Committee  had  been  sent 
to  many  schools  and  universities  offering  courses  in  mining  and 
metallurgy. 

A  list  of  the  institution  represented  and  those  in  attendance 
follows  below: 

PROFESSOR  J.  R.  NELSON,    University  of  Michigan. 
DEAN  P.  F.  WALKER,    University  of  Kansas. 
PROFESSOR  C.  R.  HAYWARD,  Massachusetts  Institute  of 

Technology. 
DR.  DORSEY  A.  LYONS,  U.  S.   Bureau  of  Mines. 
MR.  C.  H.  FULTON,  Missouri  School  of  Mines  and  Metallurgy. 
PROFESSOR  F.  W.  SPERR,  Michigan  College  of  Mines. 
DEAN  G.  M.  BUTLER,    University  of  Arizona. 
PROFESSOR  A.  L.  WALKER,  Columbia   University. 
MR.  N.  S.  GREENSFELDER,   Hercules  Powder  Co. 
DEAN  E.  S.  MOORE,  Pennsylvania  State  College. 
PROFESSOR  H.  H.  STOEK,    University  of  Illinois. 
PRESIDENT  C.  C.  O'HARRA,  South  Dakota  State  School  of 

Mines. 
PROFESSOR  A.  H.  CARPENTER,  Armour  Institute  of  Tech- 
nology. 
DEAN  F.  A.  THOMSON,    University  of  Idaho. 
PRESIDENT  E.H.  WELLS,  New  Mexico  School  of  Mines. 
PROFESSOR  A.  J.  HOSKIN,    University  of  Illinois. 
PROFESSOR  C.  J.  NORWOOD,    University  of  Kentucky. 

The  Executive  Committee  for  1922  is  as  follows: 
Mr.  C.  H  Fulton,   Chairman,  Rolla,  Mo., 

Director  Missouri  School  of  Mines  and  Metallurgy. 
Dean  F.  A.  Thomson,  Moscow,  Idaho., 

Dean  School  of  Mines,  University  of  Idaho. 
Dean  G.  M.  Butler,  Tuscon,  Ariz., 

Dean  School  of  Mines,  University  of  Arizona. 
Dr.  D.  A.  Lyon,  Washington,  D.  C, 

Superintendent  of  Stations,  Bureau  of  Mines. 
Professor  A.  L.  Walker,  New  York,  N.  Y., 

Professor  of  Metallurgy,  Columbia  University. 
Dean  E.  S.  Moore,  State  College,  Pa., 

Dean  School  of  Mines,  The  Pennsylvania  State  College. 


28  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 


CONFERENCE  HELD  TUESDAY,  OCT.  18,  1921. 

MR.  FULTON:*  I  welcome  you  on  behalf  of  the  Committee 
on  Education  and  Public  Service  of  the  American  Mining  Congress. 
The  name  is  an  inclusive  one,  as  you  will  note,  and  just  how  it 
originated  I  cannot  tell  you,  but  the  Committee  was  formed  in  St. 
Louis  two  years  ago,  and  met  again  last  year,  in  Denver,  when  an 
Executive  Committee  was  appointed  of  which  I  was  made  the 
chairman.  The  Executive  Committee  outlined  a  proposed  pro- 
gram, the  main  feature  of  which  was  to  be  a  symposium  on  mining 
education.  During  the  past  year,  the  Committee  was  in  corres- 
pondence with  many  of  those  interested  in  mining  and  metallurgi- 
cal education  requesting  them  to  present  papers  and  discuss  perti- 
nent subjects.     We  are  here  for  that  purpose  today. 

The  program  for  today  is  to  discuss  some  of  the  questions,  an 
outline  of  which  was  sent  to  those  expecting  to  take  part  in  this 
conference.  One  of  these  questions  is  that  of  English  in  the  mining 
and  metallurgical  course  and  the  paper  by  Professor  Nelson  of  the 
University  of  Michigan  bears  directly  on  this  subject.  Professor 
Nelson  represents  the  Committee  on  English  of  the  Society  for  the 
Promotion  of  Engineering  Education. 

PROFESSOR  NELSON  READS  HIS  PAPER:  "The  De- 
velopment of  a  Special  English  Course  for  Engineering  Students." 
(Published  in  Proc.  Soc.  Prom.  Eng.  Ed.) 

MR.  FULTON:  Prof.  Nelson's  paper  is  on  a  vital  subject. 
Those  here  who  have  had  to  do  with  engineering  training  will 
concede  this.  On  the  whole,  students  entering  technical  schools 
have  poorer  preparation  in  English  than  in  former  years.  Why 
this  is  so  I  do  not  know,  but  I  believe  it  can  be  traced  in  part  to 
the  less  Severe  training  the  student  gets  in  high  school,  because  the 
high  school  course  is  so  crowded  with  odds  and  ends  as  to  curtail 
fundamental  studies.  If  it  is  true  that  men  entering  the  technical 
schools  are  less  efficiently  trained  in  English  than  formerly  it  is 
essential  for  the  technical  school  to  correct  this  deficiency.  In 
what  manner  this  is  to  be  done  I  do  not  know,  but  Prof.  Nelson 
has  offered  good  suggestions.  One  of  the  subjects  under  discussion 
is  "Should  the  English  taught  in  technical  schools  be  of  a  technical 
character  or  should  it  be  general  in  character."  I  gather  from 
Prof.  Nelson's  paper  that  his  conception  of  the  task  of  the  English 
Department  is  to  make  the  men  acquainted  with  English  from  the 
standpoint  of  literature. 

fDEAN  WALKER:  In  Kansas  we  have  a  separate  depart- 
ment of  English  for  engineering  students,  doing  in  some  lines  at 
least  so  far  as  our  organization   permits,  the  same  that  Michigan 


♦School  of  Mines  and  Metallurgy,  Univ.  of  Mo. 
tUniversity  of  Kansas. 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION        29 

does,  and  I  wish  to  corroborate  what  Prof.  Nelson  has  said  as  to 
the  change  in  the  attitude  of  these  men.  I  recall  10,  12  or  15 
years  ago  the  student  looked  upon  English  work  more  or  less  as  a 
bore,  and  I  now  hear  the  most  enthusiastic  comments  from 
them  with  reference  to  the  work  they  are  doing  in  advanced 
composition.  Only  juniors  and  some  seniors  are  admitted  to  that 
class.  We  never  put  a  man  in  below  the  junior  year.  With 
reference  to  the  report  writing  work,  we  have  a  Kansas  custom  of 
requiring  4  technical  reports,  prepared  by  students  under  the 
direction  of  the  members  of  the  technical  department,  and  it 
interests  me  greatly  to  know  that  the  English  Department  of 
Michigan  is  taking  over  that  work.     Is  that  required  or    elective? 

PROF.  NELSON:  That  is  required  and  is  a  two-hour 
course.  I  lecture  one  hour  a  week  and  have  a  conference  group 
of  about  10  seniors  for  the  other  hour.  I  insist  that  all  the  work 
on  the  report  be  done  under  my  direction,  which  shows  how  to  go 
about  the  proposition  of  organizing  technical  material  when  you 
have  that  proposition  before  you  and  how  to  get  the  best  result. 
They  do  all  the  work  on  that  report  under  my  direction  and  the 
report  comes  to  me  first.  I  cut  it  all  to  pieces  and  insist  on  rewrit- 
ing it  and  putting  it  in  the  best  form  possible.  Technical  men 
claim  there  has  been  great  improvement. 

DEAN  WALKER:  I  wish  to  mention  one  other  thing  that 
Prof.  Nelson  has  spoken  of  and  that  is  the  necessity  that  the  tech- 
nical teaching  staff  back  up  the  English  Department  in  holding 
forth  the  importance  of  English  training  work.  I  never  lose  an 
opportunity  of  driving  that  in. 

PROF.  HAY  WARD*:  Our  students  are  all  studying  en- 
gineering and  since  the  founding  of  the  school  it  has  been  a  policy 
to  require  substantial  courses  in  English.  Unfortunately  the  study 
of  English  was  not  always  popular  and  even  such  an  eminent 
scholar  and  teacher  as  the  late  Prof.  Arlo  Bates  was  often  annoyed 
by  indifferent  or  even  antagonistic  students.  I  think  that  attitude 
has  largely  disappeard  in  recent  years.  Some  of  our  English 
staff  are  among  the  most  popular  men  on  the  faculty.  They  have 
tried  to  make  English  appreciated  by  the  students  and  if  they 
have  not  wholly  succeeded  they  have  at  least  made  it  less  dis- 
liked. By  means  of  evening  readings  and  other  voluntary  services 
some  of  the  instructors  have  made  a  secure  place  in  the  student 
life. 

In  addition  to  the  required  English  courses  of  the  first  two 
years  we  require  that  a  certain  amount  of  time  in  the  junior  and 
senior  years  be  given  to  what  we  term  "general  studies."  These 
are  selected  by  the  students  from  a  given  list  of  non-technical  or 
so-called   "cultural"   subjects.     Most  of   these  are  given  by   the 


'Mass.  Inst.  Tech.,  Boston. 


30  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 

English  department.  Among  them  is  report-writing  in  which  the 
student  is  allowed  to  select  his  own  subject,  often  getting  advice 
from  a  member  of  his  professional  department,  studying  it  in  the 
library  and  then  submitting  his  report  to  the  English  department 
for  correction.  In  this  way  two  ends  are  served.  The  student 
gets  technical  information  along  a  line  in  which  he  is  interested  and 
then  learns  how  to  express  himself  in  correct  English.  In  spite  of 
continued  pressure  for  more  time  in  professional  subjects  the 
faculty  has  always  rigidly  stood  against  obtaining  it  at  the  expense 
of  English,  history,  economics  and  similar  general  studies. 

PROF.  SPERR*:  The  assertion  has  been  made  that  the 
high  school  graduates  are  not  as  well  trained  in  English  as  they 
used  to  be.  Is  it  not  because  we  are  impressed  with  their  lack  of 
training  more  than  we  used  to  be?  I  rather  think  it  is  that  we  are 
getting  just  as  good  training  in  high  school  graduates  now  as  we 
ever  did,  but  the  trouble  with  the  training  in  English  in  technical 
schools  is  eventually  due  to  the  same  thing  as  it  is  in  our  high  schools 
— the  lack  of  teachers  with  the  proper  personnel  and  pep  in  them  to 
get  anything  into  a  student  at  all.  When  high  school  students  hate 
the  study  of  English,  I  think  it  is  largely  because  of  the  lack  of 
proper  personnel  in  the  teacher.  I  think  if  we  could  in  some  way 
get  at  our  normal  schools  for  training  the  teacher  and  get  at  our 
high  school  organizations  or  the  directors  to  impress  upon  them  the 
necessity  of  better  English  teaching  in  their  schools,  we  could 
accomplish  something.  English  is  made  a  sort  of  a  by-play,  a 
good  thing  to  have,  but  not  necessary.  That  is  the  attitude — any- 
body can  teach  English.  I  assume  that  the  object  of  teaching 
English  is  to  train  the  student  to  use  good  English  in  both  speaking 
and  writing.  The  necessity  for  the  use  of  good  English  depends  on 
either  of  these  lines  and  you  do  not  have  to  confine  yourself  to 
technical  subjects  or  think  you  have  to  make  it  either  technical  or 
literary,  or  both.  Successful  teaching  of  English  to  engineering 
students  depends  largely  on  the  instructor  if  he  must  interest  the 
young  men  in  the  subject  and  make  them  realize  that  they  need  to 
use  good  English  for  their  own  personal  efficiency  and  success. 

MR.  FULTON:  I  think  that  the  high  schools  are  in  part 
responsible  for  the  poor  training  in  English,  and  still  it  is  not  fair 
to  generalize,  for  we  will  find  that  in  the  large  cities,  high  schools 
often  give  most  excellent  training  in  English;  but  when  the  country 
schools  and  the  country  high  schools  are  considered  we  find  that 
there  has  crept  into  the  course  of  study  of  these  schools  the  voca- 
tional training  idea,  and  that  this  vocational  training  is  largely  of 
a  so-called  practical  nature  which  takes  up  so  much  time,  that  the 
really  fundamental  studies — reading,  writing,  spelling  and  arith- 
metic, rather  go  by  the  board,  and  men  come  through  these  schools 


*Michigan  College  of  Mines. 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION        31 

with  a  knowledge  of  a  little  agriculture,  a  little  physics,  a  little 
chemistry  and  a  hundred  other  things,  the  possession  of  which  is 
a  detriment  to  them  if  they  pursue  further  education;  for  what  they 
did  learn  of  these  subjects  in  many  cases  must  be  unlearned  and 
the  time  that  was  taken  up  with  them  was  taken  from  the  highly 
necessary  fundamental  subjects.  Formerly,  most  of  the  technical 
schools  had  no  English  in  their  courses.  Nothing  was  given  in  the 
nature  of  the  Humanities.  My  days  go  back  to  when  technical 
education  in  this  country  was  still  relatively  new  and  the  number 
of  technical  schools,  particularly  the  number  of  the  Schools  of  Mines 
was  not  large.  I  remember  we  divided  the  type  of  technical 
schools  into  two  classes;  first  that  which  my  alma  mater,  Columbia 
University,  represented,  and  second,  that  which  the  Massachusetts 
Institute  of  Technology  represents.  We  were  taught  that  the 
technical  school  was  a  scientific  school  and  that  while  the  Humani- 
ties were  desirable,  the  student  should  have  had  this  training  before 
he  entered  the  technical  institution,  or  if  he  did  not  have  it,  he 
should  obtain  it  outside  his  technical  school  duties.  Hence  we 
had  no  time  for  English  in  the  School  of  Mines.  I  believe  the 
Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology  has  always  paid  consider- 
able attention  to  the  Humanities.  This  brings  us  to  a  particular 
question  which  is  a  vital  one  before  this  conference,  namely,  if 
Humanities  are  to  be  introduced  into  the  course,  and  we  have 
pressing  on  us,  also  many  new  technical  subjects,  is  the  time  allotted 
to  a  technical  education,  at  the  present  day,  sufficient  to  properly 
educate  a  young  man  for  an  engineering  career?  In  this  connec- 
tion I  wish  to  present  the  paper  of  Prof.  Robert  Peele  of  Columbia 
University.  He  requests  me  to  particularly  say  that  in  this  paper 
he  expresses  his  personal  views,  only,  and  not  the  official  views  of 
his  institution. 

PROF.  PEELE'S  PAPER  is  read  by  the  Chairman.  (See 
page  58.) 

DEAN  WALKER:  I  want  to  comment  on  Prof.  Peele's  dis- 
cussion on  some  of  the  problems  that  are  confronting  us.  Some 
of  us  feel  it  very  keenly,  especially  his  conclusion  as  to  the  length 
of  the  course.  For  over  20  years  I  have  been  connected  with 
institutions  where  a  4-year  course  in  mining  has  been  offered.  I 
have  been  fortunato,  and  unfortunate  enough  during  the  last  10 
years  to  go  through  the  throes  of  a  complete  revision  of  mining 
engineering,  and  am  now  confronted  with  a  similar  proposition. 
I  think  we  should  all  follow  the  practice  (and  the  institution  I  am 
now  connected  with  still  continues  that  practice)  of  giving  the 
young  man  studying  engineering  choice  as  to  options  which  he 
will  take — a  geological  option,  mining  option  or  something  of  that 
kind.  As  to  the  disapproval  of  that  practice,  I  have  found  in 
many  cases  he  had  no  choice  in  the  matter.  A  committee  has  now 
been  appointed  to  revise  the  entire  mining  courso.     It  has  advanced 


32  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 

in  its  work  sufficiently  far  so  I  feel  before  the  end  of  the  year  we 
shall  have  no  options  in  our  4-year  course,  but  we  are  going  to  try 
to  do  nothing  but  lay  the  foundations  strongly  for  mining  engineer- 
ing. We  feel,  however,  as  Prof.  Peele  feels  that  4  years  is  not 
sufficient  to  give  a  young  man  the  training  he  ought  to  have.  In 
order  that  we  may  at  least  in  part  adopt  the  recommendation  of 
Prof.  Peele  we  are  going  to  lay  particular  emphasis  on  the  fifth-year 
engineering  course.  We  are  going  to  do  all  we  can  to  induce  our 
young  men  to  take  the  fifth  year.  Eventually  it  may  be  that  we 
would  give  no  degree  at  the  end  of  the  fourth  year.  1  cannot  tell  how 
it  is  going  to  work  out,  but  that  is  what  we  are  going  to  do.  As 
to  Prof.  Peele' s  statement  that  so  many  engineering  graduates  fail 
to  succeed  after  graduation,  it  would  seem  to  us  that  that  is  largely 
our  fault.  It  is  largely  the  fault  of  the  engineering  colleges.  You 
can  take  some  catalogues,  soliciting  graduates  of  engineering 
colleges  and  check  over  their  present  employment  and  find  they  are 
engaged  in  lines  utterly  foreign  to  those  they  started  out  with. 

DEAN  BUTLER*:  I  agree  with  Dean  Walker  that  the 
administrative  officers  of  engineering  schools  are  largely  to  blame 
for  the  fact  that  a  considerable  proportion  of  the  graduates  engaged 
after  graduation  in  lines  of  activity  foreign  to  the  course  they 
pursued  in  college.  I  have  found  that  a  large  proportion  of  our 
freshmen  have  very  little  idea  why  they  are  studying  engineering, 
and  especially  why  they  select  that  particular  branch  of  engineer- 
ing which  they  pursue  in  college.  In  many  cases  they  have  no  more 
reason  for  so  doing  than  they  would  have  if  the  choice  were  based 
on  a  throw  of  dice.  They  rarely  know  exactly  why  they  are  pursu- 
ing a  certain  course  when  they  come  to  us,  and  seem  to  have 
chosen  their  life  work  more  or  less  at  random.  It  appears  to  me 
that  it  is  obligatory  upon  us  to  do  something  to  help  these  young 
men.  We  should  familiarize  them  with  the  qualifications  that  are 
required  for  success  in  all  branches  of  engineering,  and  the  peculiar 
qualities  demanded  in  each  separate  branch.  We  should  endeavor 
to  acquaint  them  with  the  nature  of  the  work  they  will  probably 
be  called  upon  to  do  immediately  after  graduation,  and  the  oppor- 
tunities for  advancement  open  to  them.  We  should  impress  upon 
them  the  fact  that  it  is  foolish  for  them  to  continue  in  the  course 
that  they  have  selected  unless  they  are  sure  that  they  are  going  to 
enjoy  the  work  and  will  be  fairly  well  satisfied  with  the  remunera- 
tion they  will  probably  receive.  The  information  given  should 
be  as  accurate  and  conservative  as  it  is  possible  to  make  it,  and 
the  difficulties  and  drawbacks  inherent  in  each  branch  of  engineer- 
ing should  not  be  minimized. 

At  the  University  of  Arizona  we  have  been  endeavoring  during 
the  past  two  or  three  years  to  acquaint  the  young  men  with  the 


♦University  of  Arizona. 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION         33 

facts  mentioned  through  our  so-called  Freshmen  Orientation 
Course  which  consists  of  one  lecture  a  week  throughout  the  Freshman 
year.  Attendance  is  obligatory  upon  all  engineering  freshmen,  but 
no  credit  is  given  for  the  course.  After  my  first  lecture  this  year 
in  which  I  emphasized  strongly  the  fundamental  qualifications, 
required  for  success  in  engineering,  five  young  men  expressed  a 
desire  to  be  transferred  to  other  courses.  I  was  mighty  glad  to 
have  them  make  the  decision  then,  for  our  purpose  throughout 
the  course  is  to  get  rid  of  the  men  who  should  not  be  there,  and  to 
graduate  no  one  who  is  not  perfectly  satisfied  that  he  knows  exactly 
what  kind  of  work  he  is  to  be  called  upon  to  do  after  graduation, 
that  he  is  going  to  enjoy  that  work,  and  that  he  has  the  fundamental 
qualifications  for  success  in  that  work.  If  the  results  secured  by 
our  course  are  any  criterion  of  its  usefulness,  I  am  sure  that  the 
idea  deserves  the  consideration  of  all  engineering  admininstrators. 

PROF.  WALKER*:  Professor  Peele  states  in  his  paper  that 
the  engineering  school  where  a  six-year  course  is  now  given  is  a 
graduate  school.  I  know  he  did  not  mean  this  to  read  that  way. 
The  school  he  refers  to  is  not  a  graduate  school,  as  a  degree  is  not 
one  of  the  requirements  for  admission.  Work  which  can  be  ob- 
tained in  college  only  is  required  for  admission  and  this  work  can 
be  completed  in  three  years,  in  college,  but  a  candidate  is  not 
required  to  have  a  degree. 

We  have  been  much  interested  in  what  Professor  Peele  says  in 
regard  to  the  mortality  of  engineers  after  graduation,  meaning  that 
such  a  large  number  of  men  who  study  mining  engineering  do  not 
follow  that  profession.  I  think  that  in  all  our  engineering  schools 
a  large  percentage  of  the  graduates  will  wander  from  the  mining 
engineering  profession  and  take  up  other  vocations.  This  shows 
that  a  general  mining  engineering  education  is  useful  as  a  founda- 
tion for  almost  anything.  In  the  school  just  mentioned  and  which 
is  referred  to  especially  by  Professor  Peele,  in  his  paper,  the  work 
is  so  laid  out  that  a  man  who  has  a  sufficient  amount  of  interest  in 
mining  engineering  to  completo  his  course  will  undoubtedly  follow 
this  profession  after  graduation.  This  is  the  case  in  law  and  in 
medicine. 

Professor  Peele  distinctly  states  that  four  years  is  not  long 
enough.  In  other  words,  it  does  not  give  a  sufficient  amount  of 
time  to  properly  educate  a  man  to  enter  the  mining  engineering  pro- 
fession. The  faculties  of  a  number  of  institutions  evidently  are 
of  the  same  opinion  as  in  several  of  our  prominent  schools,  five 
years'  study  are  required  before  granting  the  professional  degree, 
and  in  two  others  six  years  are  required.  At  Columbia  University, 
in  New  York,  they  decided  a  few  years  ago  to  institute  a  course 
which  would  require  six  years'  study  after  a  man  left  the  prepara- 


tOolumbla  University,  New  York. 

2 


34  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 

tory  school  before  he  could  receive  his  professional  degree.  This 
course  was  framed  with  the  idea  of  giving  the  man  a  thorough 
training  in  the  fundamentals  of  engineering,  mathematics,  chemis- 
try and  physics  prior  to  entering  the  engineering  school,  it  being 
arranged  so  that  this  work  could  be  completed  in  three  years.  He 
then  enters  the  professional  school  and  devotes  three  years  to 
strictly  engineering  subjects  at  the  end  of  which  period  he  receives 
his  degree. 

If  this  man  takes  his  preliminary  work  in  Columbia  College, 
then  enters  the  engineering  school  and  spends  one  year  there  he 
will  receive  his  bachelor's  degree,  having  up  to  that  time  received 
what  in  other  institutions  is  called  a  "strictly  scientific  education," 
of  a  high  standard.  He  may  leave  then  and  enter  the  engineering 
profession  or  take  up  something  else  in  which  he  will  find  this 
education  to  be  of  valuable  assistance.  If,  however,  the  man  con- 
tinues through  six  years  and  receives  his  engineering  degree  he 
will  be  very  thoroughly  prepared  in  all  fundamentals  and,  as  far 
as  is  possible,  in  strictly  engineering  subjects.  He  will  have  had 
more  time  to  absorb  engineering  instruction  and  is  more  likely  to 
continue  on  in  the  profession. 

I  am  very  glad  to  have  had  a  chance  to  say  a  few  words  about 
our  aims  at  Columbia  as  I  know  that  the  present  program  in  the 
School  of  Mines  has  been  rather  severely  criticised.  While  some 
of  the  details  of  this  plan  may  have  to  be  changed  as  time  goes  on, 
we  believe  that  the  experiment  is  well  worth  while. 

MR.  GREENSFELDER*:  I  am  attending  these  meetings 
to  find  out  if  possible  how  we  as  manufacturers  can  better  co- 
operate with  educational  institutions  in  educating  engineering 
students  on  the  subject  of  explosives  and  their  uses.  We  feel  that 
possibly  there  is  not  sufficient  time  in  the  curriculum  for  the  regular 
instructors  to  devote  their  time  to  that,  but  we  are  willing  to  co- 
operate in  whatever  way  we  can  to  provide  this  information. 
Last  summer  I  was  traveling  to  deliver  lectures  at  various  colleges, 
and  I  found  considerable  interest  among  the  students,  particularly 
when  they  listened  to  a  man  who  was  connected  with  a  company 
manufacturing  the  particular  product  they  used.  One  of  the 
professors  wrote  me  afterwards  that  they  showed  greater  interest 
because  a  man  coming  from  a  company  who  was  making  the 
product  lectured  to  them,  than  if  the  information  had  been  imparted 
by  their  regular  instructor. 

We  want  to  know  just  how  we  can  further  this  idea.  We 
would  be  willing  to  get  up  publications  and  pamphlets  particularly 
designed  for  students  at  engineering  colleges.  We  encourage  mem- 
bers of  our  company  to  contribute  articles  to  publications  issued 
by  engineering  schools — in  other  words,  our  desire  is  to  disseminate 


*Hercules  Powder  Company. 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION         35 

all  the  information  we  can  to  students,  and  I  want  this  conference 
to  know  we  are  open  for  suggestions  along  this  line. 

MR.  FULTON:  Mr.  Greensfelder  represents  the  Hercules 
Powder  Company  which  takes  the  product  of  the  technical  school. 
Sometimes,  as  Prof.  Peele  said  in  his  paper,  there  is  a  difference  of 
opinion  between  those  who  teach  and  those  who  take  the  product 
of  the  teaching  and  I  believe,  to  express  myself  frankly  from  out 
of  my  own  experience,  that  the  usual  view  of  the  company  that 
takes  the  product  is  somewhat  narrow  and  applied  to  their  own 
particular  field.  For  example,  in  a  large  industrial  city  where  I 
was  formerly  connected  with  a  prominent  technical  school,  we 
asked  for  suggestions  from  the  manufacturers  in  different  fields  as 
to  what  we  should  teach,  in  order  to  prepare  men  for  their  work  in 
engineering.  The  response  almost  invariably  was  that  we  should 
train  the  men  for  the  respondent's  own  particular  business.  Of 
course  when  you  hear  this  reply  from  one  man  it  sounds  very 
reasonable  but  when  you  collect  the  data  of  the  hundred  replies 
you  at  once  perceive  how  utterly  impossible  it  is  to  base  an  educa- 
tion on  these  concrete  replies.  We  most  heartily  welcome  what 
Mr.  Greensfelder  has  offered  us,  but  the  question  remains  after  all 
"What  is  the  best  training  for  industrial  work?"  Is  it  general 
training  in  fundamentals  and  the  technical  essentials  followed  by 
an  apprenticeship?  Some  of  the  great  mining  and  metallurgical 
companies  have  apprentice  schools.  They  are  willing  to  take  a 
technical  graduate  and  keep  him  a  year  or  two  to  learn  their  parti- 
cular business.     I  think  this  method  a  sound  one. 

DEAN  MOORE*:  (Discussing  Prof.  Walker's  suggestions) 
I  think,  however,  there  is  a  different  viewpoint  to  be  taken,  depend- 
ing somewhat  upon  the  nature  of  the  institution  with  which  you 
are  connected.  In  the  state  institutions  we  get  a  little  different 
type  of  student  from  that  in  the  privately  endowed  institutions. 
I  found,  for  example,  that  the  men  who  come  to  our  institution  are 
in  many  cases  poor  men  financially,  and  they  find  it  very  difficult 
to  finance  four  years  in  college,  and  yet  some  of  these  men  are 
excellent  men  and  it  would  be  a  mistake  for  all  of  us  to  adopt  a  six- 
year  course  I  believe  the  University  of  Pittsburgh  has  recently 
adopted  a  five-year  course  in  mining  which  will  go  into  effect  next 
year.  I  think  it  is  a  question  of  the  greatest  good  to  tne  groatest 
nn  in  her  and  our  object  in  education  should  be  to  educate  as  great 
a  number  as  possible  to  as  high  a  level  as  is  practical.  In  fact  we 
have  to  strike  a  happy  medium  until  such  time  as  we  can  get  men 
educated  so  the  mining  men  as  a  whole  will  be  in  a  position  to  send 
their  sons  to  college.  For  that  reason  I  think  it  will  be  essential 
for  us  to  stick  to  a  four-year  course  for  some  time  to  come. 

I  think  also  a  great  deal  depends  on  the  instructor.  Some  put 
men  through  four  years  who  never  make  a  failure.  Other  instruc- 
*Pennsylvania  Stato  College. 


36  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 

tors  will  keep  a  man  for  seven  or  eight  years  and  never  enthuse  him 
with  the  subject  at  all.  One  thing  I  endeavor  to  impress  upon  our 
faculty  is  to  put  a  student  in  the  same  place  in  college  as  if  he  were 
out  in  the  industry — getting  work  out  of  a  man  and  getting  things 
done  is  what  counts.  I  think  after  all  the  essentials  in  an  engineer 
are  not  necessarily  more  than  an  average  ability  but  application  of 
knowledge,  and  if  you  can  get  him  to  apply  himself  he  will  be 
successful. 

Now  as  to  vocational  guidance,  I  am  convinced  there  is  not  a 
great  deal  to  it.  I  do  not  believe  there  is  any  one  man,  a  Dean 
of  Men,  for  example,  who  knows  everything,  and  can  advise 
students  on  any  type  of  course.  Men  have  come  to  us  who  know 
nothing  about  mining,  yet  after  they  have  gone  through  the  course, 
have  been  very  successful.  It  is  essential  that  you  should  give  a 
man  an  opportunity  to  see  a  mine  or  a  steel  plant  and  see  if  he  is 
willing  to  stick  around  one  when  he  gets  out.  If  he  is  going  to  be 
happier  in  Liberal  Arts,  by  all  means  let  him  go  through  that 
course,  but  remembering  this,  it  is  a  whole  lot  easier  for  an  engineer 
to  take  up  another  line  of  business  than  for  a  man  who  has  gone 
through  Liberal  Arts  work  to  go  out  and  take  up  an  engineering 
profession.  We  can  steer  a  great  many  of  our  men  into  certain 
phases  of  the  industry,  not  strictly  engineering,  but  requiring  an 
engineering  course  as  a  foundation.  I  am  inclined  to  think  that 
in  this  day  specializing  is  practically  necessary  to  separate  in  the 
upper  year  or  two  courses  in  mining  and  metallurgy  in  order  that 
students  may  get  some  of  the  later  developments  in  such  fields  as 
metallography. 

MR.  GREENSFELDER:  One  of  our  directors  made  the 
statement  that  in  his  opinion  our  salesmen  should  be  75%  efficient 
as  service  men.  Where  a  sale  involved  an  actual  demonstration, 
the  salesman  is  of  greater  value  to  the  company  if  he  is  able  to 
handle  the  service  work  himself.  I  do  not  know  that  I  can  answer 
Dr.  Fulton's  question  about  just  what  a  manufacturer  would 
recommend  to  educators  in  training  engineering  students.  That 
is  something  that  would  have  to  be  given  considerable  thought. 
An  engineering  knowledge  will  be  of  immense  advantage  to  a  man 
in  following  the  commercial  end  of  the  business  with  a  manufacturer 
of  technical  products.  If  I  were  hiring  salesmen  for  our  work  I 
would  prefer  mining  engineers  as  I  think  they  would  be  more 
versatile  and  better  suited  for  the  service. part  of  our  work.  We 
want  to  encourage  students  to  take  an  interest  in  explosives  and  the 
proper  method  of  using  them. 

DEAN  BUTLER:  I  believe  that  most  of  my  staff  agree  that 
it  is  unwise  of  us  to  demand  of  all  engineering  students  that  they 
pursue  a  course  of  more  than  four  years'  duration.  We  are  all 
convinced  that  we  must  lay  a  very  thorough  groundwork  in  the 
fundamental  sciences,  and  that  beyond  that  our  function  is  to 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION         37 

train  the  student  to  think,  and  to  show  him  how  to  use  the  knowl- 
edge that  he  has  acquired  and  which  has  been  made  available 
through  the  work  of  others.  Apparatus  and  methods  in  vogue 
now  are  apt  to  be  out  of  date  by  the  time  the  student  has  graduated, 
and  it  is  largely  a  waste  of  time  to  place  much  emphasis  on  such 
matters,  especially  details.  A  great  deal  of  information  has  been 
printed  and  is  readily  available  along  almost  any  specialized  line 
that  the  student  may  be  called  upon  to  follow  after  graduation,  and 
he  should  be  taught  how  to  find  and  use  this  data,  and  encouraged 
to  depend  upon  his  own  efforts  to  secure  a  working,  detailed 
knowledge  of  any  technical  subject. 

We  have  practically  decided  at  the  University  of  Arizona  to 
eliminate  all  options  during  our  four-year  undergraduate  course 
leading  to  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Science  in  Mining  Engineering, 
and  to  offer  no  opportunity  for  specialization  until  after  the 
Bachelor's  degree  has  been  secured.  We  have  reached  this  deci- 
sion because  we  find  that  only  a  comparatively  small  percentage  of 
our  graduates  follow  the  particular  line  of  work  (mining  engineering, 
metallurgy,  or  geology)  in  which  they  specialize  during  their 
senior  year,  and  we  have  also  learned  that  it  is  difficult  or  im- 
possible to  give  sufficiently  thorough  training  in  the  fundamental 
subjects  in  four  years  if  we  permit  our  students  to  specialize  in  any 
way.  I  believe  that  next  year  we  shall  follow  the  plan  mentioned, 
and  shall  offer  a  fifth  year  which,  if  successfully  completed,  will 
lead  to  the  degree  of  Engineer  of  Mines,  Metallurgical  Engineer, 
or  Mining  Geologist.  We  may  also  decide  to  offer  a  fifth-year 
course  in  Mine  Administration  which  will  lead  to  a  suitable  degree. 
While  it  will  thus  be  possible  for  our  students  to  secure  a  degree  in 
four  years,  especially  promising  men  will  be  urged  to  take  a  fifth 
year  either  immediately  after  finishing  the  four-year  course,  or, 
preferably,  after  they  have  been  out  of  college  for  a  year  or  two. 

PROF.  HAY  WARD:  I  agree  with  nearly  everything  Pro- 
fessor Peele  has  said  except  his  conclusion.  I  wish,  however,  to 
comment  on  his  criticism  of  laboratory  work.  I  agree  with  him 
that  if  we  merely  make  the  student  go  through  a  lot  of  mechanical 
operations  the  time  is  wasted.  The  purpose  of  the  laboratory,  and 
I  refer  specially  to  a  metallurgical  laboratory,  is  to  make  clear 
the  theory  we  teach  in  I  lie  class  room.  With  the  small  apparatus 
it  is  necessary  to  use,  it  is  of  course  impossible  to  teach  practice, 
but  we  have  demonstrated  again  and  again  that  if  a  student  does 
not  get  the  laboratory  work  he  is  very  likely  to  lose  much  that  is 
valuable  in  the  classroom.  Our  laboratory  time  if  cut  to  a  mini- 
mum. We  stop  when  we  think  we  have  illustrated  the  theory. 
For  instance,  in  running  our  laboratory  blast  furnace  the  campaign 
lasts  sixteen  hours,  the  class  working  in  four  shifts  of  four  hours 
each.  The  men  move  from  position  to  position  and  during  a  shift 
each    weighs  and   feeds  a  few  charges,   taps  the    furnace,  etc.,  and 


38  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 

takes  necessary  observations  for  a  complete  thermal  balance  of 
the  furnace,  viz.,  gas  analyses,  and  temperatures,  cooling  water 
temperature  and  volume,  blast  temperature,  volume,  pressure,  and 
humidity,  slag  temperature,  etc.  The  day  after  the  run  all  prod- 
ucts are  weighed  and  sampled.  The  necessary  analyses  and 
calculations  are  made  by  an  assistant  and  each  student  is  furnished 
with  a  complete  account  of  stock  and  thermal  balance  which  are 
discussed  in  detail  at  a  conference  session  of  the  class.  During 
the  campaign  about  five  tons  of  charge  are  smelted  and  our  exper- 
ience has  proved  that  the  time  and  money  are  well  spent. 

I  should  like  to  give  some  laboratory  experience  which  proved 
unsatisfactory  and  tell  how  I  remedied  it.  Two  years  ago  in  a 
readjustment  of  the  course  in  Metallurgy  some  additional  time  was 
made  available  for  laboratory  work.  This  was  to  be  princpially  in 
copper  leaching  and  I  laid  out  a  series  of  tests  on  sulphatizing  and 
chloridizing  some  copper  ore,  leaching  it  hot  and  cold  with  various 
acid  strengths.  After  the  work  was  completed  the  results  of  the 
entire  class  were  plotted  and  curves  drawn  to  show  the  extractions 
under  different  conditions.  At  the  last  session  of  the  term  I  took 
the  figures  and  tried  to  show  briefly  their  application  in  calculating 
commercial  costs,  plant  capacities,  etc.  During  the  term,  although 
the  men  had  faithfully  done  the  work  assigned,  there  was  no  evi- 
dence of  enthusiasm  and  very  little  interest.  I  took  occasion  to 
mention  this  to  one  of  the  more  thoughtful  members  of  the  class 
and  asked  him  what  the  trouble  was.  He  told  me  frankly  that 
most  of  the  men  didn't  see  what  it  was  all  about  until  the  last 
exercise  when  the  figures  were  applied.  Accepting  this  as  a  just 
criticism  I  made  a  radical  change  last  year.  There  were  twenty 
men  in  the  class.  Four  captains  were  chosen  by  the  students 
themselves  and  these  leaders  divided  the  class  into  four  groups  of 
five.  To  each  group  I  gave  a  separate  problem  of  roasting  and 
leaching  and  left  them  to  divide  the  operations  of  roasting  and 
leaching.  The  results  obtained  were  to  be  used  in  calculating  a 
plant  to  treat  1,000  tons  per  day  and  make  estimates  on  operating 
cost,  finally  calculating  what  copper  must  sell  for  to  make  the  plant 
pay  under  the  conditions  determined.  I  gave  them  suggestions 
and  pointed  out  methods  of  attack,  but  they  went  far  beyond  my 
requirements  or  expectations.  They  wrote  for  catalogues,  inter- 
viewed their  engineering  friends  and  sought  information  from  every 
available  source.  Of  course  numerous  assumptions  were  necessary 
and  doubtless  many  of  the  estimates  were  wide  of  the  mark,  but 
in  the  end  four  highly  creditable  reports  were  passed  in  and  man  after 
man  told  me  that  he  had  enjoyed  it  more  and  obtained  more  good 
from  it  than  anything  he  had  done  in  his  course.  Every  man  had  put 
in  hours  beyond  the  allotted  time  not  because  he  had  to  but  because 
he  wanted  to  and  I  don't  think  one  complained  or  expressed  regret. 

This  experience  demonstrated  to  me  more  than  ever  that  one 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION        39 

of  our  primary  functions  as  teachers  is  to  implant  a  real  thirst  for 
knowledge  in  the  student.  If  we  do  this  the  student  will  educate 
himself  with  only  a  little  guidance  on  our  part.  If  we  can't  stimu- 
late a  student's  interest,'  no  amount  of  effort  or  spoon  feeding  will 
enable  us  to  turn  out  an  engineer  that  is  good  for  very  much. 

Professor  Peele's  conclusion  was  that  more  than  four  years  is 
now  necessary  in  a  mining  school.  With  this  I  di?agree.  There  are 
a  few  cases,  of  course,  where  a  man  konws  just  what  he  is  to  do 
and  needs  special  preparation  for  it,  but  on  the  whole  it  does  not 
seem  desirable.  First,  with  careful  planning  is  is  possible  to 
teach  the  fundamentals  of  mining  or  metallurgy  in  four  years. 
Beyond  a  certain  point  we  get  to  details  of  practice  which  can  be 
better  learned  in  the  plants.  Second,  if  the  student  has  acquired 
an  enthusiasm  for  his  profession  he  will  not  cease  his  study  after 
graduation,  and  two  years  after  he  receives  his  degree  he  will  be 
better  educated  than  if  he  remained  at  school.  He  will  also  be 
farther  along  in  his  profession.  If  the  student  hasn't  become 
enthusiastic  for  his  profession  he  is  better  off  in  practice  even  if  he 
doesn't  study  than  he  would  be  in  school.  Third,  the  item  of 
expense  must  be  considered.  Many  have  hard  work  financing 
themselves  for  four  years.     A  longer  time  would  be  prohibitive. 

Let  us  provide  graduate  courses  for  the  few  men  who  need 
them  but  keep  the  regular  course  at  four  years. 

I  am  inclined  to  think  that  we  could  do  much  to  stimulate 
study  after  graduation  by  increasing  the  practice  of  offering  en- 
gineering degrees  to  be  given  after  two  or  more  years  in  practice 
to  graduates  who  present  satisfactory  evidence  of  study  and  re- 
search. 

PROF.  SPERR:  I  remember  a  little  experience  I  had  in 
talking  with  a  gentleman.  I  asked  him  "As  a  graduate  yourself, 
as  a  teacher  of  mining  engineering,  a  mine  manager  and  an  employer 
of  much  technical  labor  as  well  as  other  kinds  of  labor,  I  wish  you 
would  tell  me  what  you  think  an  undergraduate  mining  engineering 
student  should  be  taught."  Ho  said  "To  think,"  and  I  believe  he 
hit  everything  that  is  really  worth  whilo.  Yes,  I  believe  a  4-year 
course  is  long  enough.  Three  years  is  long  enough  if  you  make  it 
intense  enough.  We  think  we  can  put  out  pretty  good  men  in 
three  years  by  working  them  the  year  around  and  doing  it  in- 
tensively. 

I  have  a  great  deal  of  respect  for  what  Prof.  Peele  has  given 
us,  and  what  he  says  is  true,  but  after  all  we  have  got  to  cut  it  off 
somewhere  and  the  question  of  where  we  must  cut  off  outside  of 
fundamentals  perhaps  will  have  to  be  settled  by  the  conditions  each 
school  is  working  under  and  what  it  tries  to  do.  The  objects  of 
tho  different  schools  may  be  divided  rather  roughly  into  two  classes: 
One,  to  make  what  we  call  professional  engineers,  reporters  on 
mining   properties,   etc.     The   other  is   primarily   to   make    mine 


40  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 

operators  and  managers.  With  us  we  think  more  largely  of  this 
latter  object,  and  most  of  our  men  follow  that  line.  We  all  agree 
in  that  the  fundamentals  must  precede  everything  else  and  all  we 
can  do  in  any  special  line  is  to  help  the  student  to  assimilate  the 
fundamentals.  If  we  do  that  we  will  do  well.  We  cannot  make 
them  finished  practitioners  in  any  line  you  can  mention.  We  can 
make  them  useful  for  a  certain  kind  of  work  which  gives  them  an 
entrance  into  some  capacity  or  other  and  then  it  is  up  to  their  own 
individuality  and  the  forces  in  them  whether  or  not  they  will  be 
successful. 

MR.  FULTON:  It  is  well  to  sum  up  some  of  the  ideas  that 
have  been  expressed.  How  are  we  going  to  achieve  the  result  of 
vitally  interesting  the  student  so  that  when  he  leaves  he  will 
possess  the  fundamentals  and  enough  of  technical  knowledge  to 
begin  his  career  with?  The  question  of  a  four-year  or  a  six-year 
course  for  a  mining  or  metallurgical  education  is  a  fundamental  one. 
Why  do  we  wish  more  time  now  than  we  did  ten,  fifteen,  or  twenty 
years  ago?  I  think  the  answer  is  plain.  The  amount  of  pro- 
fessional knowledge  has  increased  greatly  since  that  time.  Twenty 
years  ago  a  mining  engineer  was  also  a  metallurgist.  Then  a 
graduate  in  mining  engineering  might  find  a  berth  in  a  steel  plant 
and  very  soon  adapt  himself  perfectly  to  the  work  in  hand.  Now 
all  this  is  changed  and  the  technical  knowledge  that  has  accumu- 
lated makes  for  a  sharp  division  between  mining  and  metallurgy. 
How  specialized  technical  knowledge  relating  to  metallurgical 
operations  is  may  be  illustrated  by  the  existence  of  an  active 
technical  society  known  as  the  Electrical  Engineers  of  Iron  and 
Steel  Plants.  These  men  are  engaged  in  electrical  engineering 
solely  in  relation  with  iron  and  steel  works  and  of  necessity  must 
possess  some  general  knowledge  of  the  metallurgy  of  iron  and  steel. 
There  is  a  demand  for  men  who  are  thoroughly  and  specifically 
trained  in  either  the  mining  branch  or  the  metallurgical  branch  of 
the  mineral  industry. 

I  believe  it  incompatible  with  modern  industry  to  give  the 
student  a  general  course  only  and  then  graduate  him  expecting 
him  to  find  his  place.  He  must  be  specifically  trained  in  a  certain 
direction.  The  question  is:  Will  it  take  longer  to  do  this  now  than 
formerly?  Is  four  years  enough  or  does  it  now  require  six  years? 
Will  we  expect  to  make  it  eight  years  a  decade  hence?  Solving  the 
difficulty  by  lengthening  the  time  is,  I  believe,  the  easiest  way 
which  is  not  necessarily  the  best  way.  The  difficulty  is  funda- 
mental and  I  believe  cannot  be  solved  by  an  addition  of  time.  It 
really  rests  in  the  psychology  of  the  student.  In  general  the  young 
man  between  18  and  23  in  the  technical  school  or  the  university 
has  usually  only  a  hazy  idea  of  what  he  is  eventually  going  to  do. 
I  have  a  low  opinion  of  the  practicability  of  vocational  guidance. 
In  nearly  all  cases,  the  direction  in  education  that  a  young  man 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION        41 

takes  is  at  the  suggestion  of  his  parents  or  interested  friends  and 
is  not  his  own  free  choice.  There  are,  of  course,  some  men  mature 
enough  to  make  a  free  choice  but  the  majority  are  not  of  this  type. 
Broadly  I  believe  it  is  undesirable  to  attempt  to  direct  a  man 
vocationally.  In  most  cases  those  who  find  themselves  out  of  place 
in  the  technical  school  will  seek  an  adjustment.  It  is  also  true 
that  the  man  educated  in  engineering  has  such  a  generally  useful 
education  that  he  can  readily  enter  business  or  almost  any  industry 
and  succeed.  The  student  is  in  college  or  technical  school  at  a 
critical  age,  psychically.  I  believe  it  is  more  difficult  for  a  young 
man  to  concentrate  on  work  in  hand  between  the  ages  of  18  and  23 
than  at  any  other  time  in  life.  His  chief  interest  during  this  period 
is  in  the  opposite  sex  and  it  needs  discipline  and  admonition,  con- 
stantly applied  to  keep  him  at  work.  This  rests  in  the  nature  of 
things  and  needs  no  further  discussion  except  that  it  is  one  of  the 
things,  though  well  known,  frequently  ignored.  At  23  the  man's 
viewpoint  radically  changes  and  he  is  desirous  to  begin  work. 
Moreover,  he  is  not  content  to  work  just  to  be  educated,  but  he 
wishes  to  do  things  in  his  profession,  his  objective  becomes  definite. 
I  have  always  felt  that  in  engineering  the  fundamental  conception 
of  the  profession  and  the  orientation  of  the  individual  are  obtained 
only  in  the  works  and  in  the  field.  In  this  respect  it  differs  from 
the  professions  of  medicine  and  the  law,  as  for  example,  in  modern 
medical  education  the  student  is  in  close  touch  in  the  latter  years 
of  his  course  with  practitioners  through  the  clinics  and  the  hospitals. 
The  engineer  deals  with  labor  and  recently  the  demand  is  voiced  to 
instruct  the  student  in  what  has  been  termed  "human  engineering." 
But  can  this  be  taught  in  school?  Fundamental  conceptions  can 
be  conveyed  in  courses  of  economics  and  sociology  but  the  real 
understanding  and  practice  can  be  gained  only  in  the  works.  I 
believe,  therefore,  that  four  years  in  the  technical  school  are  enough 
to  teach  the  man  the  fundamental  sciences  and  to  direct  him  tech- 
nically in  a  basic  way  in  the  particular  field  he  expects  to  follow. 
His  orientation  and  the  instruction  in  the  technique  of  his  pro- 
fession is  well  left  to  what  may  be  called  his  apprentice  course  in 
the  mine  or  works.  I  have  the  highest  regard  and  veneration  for 
the  Humanities,  and  a  man's  life  would,  indeed,  be  passed  in  gloom 
and  darkness  were  if  not  lighted  by  what  is  so  beautiful  in  science, 
art  and  literature.  But  with  the  exception  of  English  Literature, 
the  great  field  of  the  1 1  u  inanities  can  only  be  indicated  to  the 
student  and  reliance  must  be  placed  on  his  initiative  and  curiosity 
to  explore  this  region  that  will  yield  him  such  full  treasure  for  the 
enjoyment  of  life. 

PROF.  WALK  UK:  We  all  undoubtedly  believe  that  speciali- 
zation in  several  subjects  is  impossible.  We  have  a  certain  amount 
of  ground  to  eover  and  a  comparatively  short  time  to  cover  it  in. 
As  a   result    it    is  impossible  to  instruct  students  very  thoroughly 


42  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 

in  more  than  one  branch  of  engineering.  In  designing  a  course  for 
a  mining  engineering  student  we  must  necessarily  include  work  in 
electrical,  mechanical,  and  civil  engineering,  but  we  cannot  at- 
tempt to  make  electrical,  mechanical  or  civil  engineers  out  of  these 
men. 

It  requires  considerable  work  to  keep  our  courses  of  instruction 
abreast  of  the  times  and  while  our  Chairman  has  had  a  much  longer 
experience  in  teaching  than  I  have  had,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  he 
was  graduated  from  the  Columbia  School  of  Mines  a  number  of 
years  after  I  was,  I  can  not  agree  with  him  in  the  statement  that 
there  is  but  little  more,  to  teach  now  than  at  the  time  either  of  us 
was  in  school.  Many  subjects  not  even  thought  of  then  must 
receive  a  great  deal  of  attention  now. 

While  I  believe  fully  that  the  instruction  in  the  fundamentals 
should  be  thorough  I  also  believe  that  we  must  have  time  to  give 
proper  instruction  in  engineering  subjects  afterwards  in  order 
that  thoroughly  trained  engineers  may  be  produced.  For  your 
information  I  would  like  to  state  that  in  the  School  of  Mines  at 
Columbia  the  students  may  select  either  mining  engineering, 
mining  geology  or  metallurgical  engineering  and  specialize  in  one 
of  these  three  branches  during  the  last  two  years  of  their  course. 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION        43 


CONFERENCE  HELD  WEDNESDAY,  OCTOBER  19,  1921. 

MR.  FULTON:  We  will  open  the  second  afternoon  of  our 
conference  with  remarks  by  President  O'Harra  of  the  South 
Dakota  School  of  Mines.  He  began  yesterday  to  say  something 
to  us  about  what  he  thought  should  be  in  the  mining  course.  When 
Dr.  O'Harra  concludes,  it  will  be  desirable  to  plan  for  a  continua- 
tion of  our  organization  for  next  year,  and  I  wish  to  state  briefly 
that  the  matter  presents  itself  to  me  in  this  way:  The  American 
Institute  of  Mining  Engineers  has  claims  on  this  conference.  I 
understand  that  when  Mr.  C.  H.  Mathewson  was  requested  to 
address  this  conference  on  metallurgical  education  he  said  that 
the  subject  of  mining  education  belonged  to  the  American  Institute 
of  Mining  and  Metallurgical  Engineers.  That,  of  course,  is  a 
matter  open  to  discussion.  It  would  appear  that  we  might  be 
submerged  in  the  Institute  as  its  activities  are  so  large  and  varied. 
I  doubt  whether  under  its  auspices  we  could  come  together  as  closely 
as  we  do  here.  The  title  of  this  organization  is  "Committee  on 
Education  and  Public  Service"  and  as  stated  yesterday  this  is  a 
very  comprehensive  one.  In  this  organization  I  believe  the  min- 
ing schools  and  the  mining  and  metallurgical  departments  of  the 
Universities  throughout  the  country  may  very  well  get  together 
and  meet  for  the  discussion  of  their  problems.  I  think  it  is  un- 
necessary for  this  organization  to  set  a  very  high  aim,  such  as  an 
all  around  reform  in  technical  education;  meetings  for  discussion 
and  exchange  of  ideas  will  be  ample  motive.  Miners  and  metal- 
lurgists and  geologists  have  always  held  together  the  world  over, 
and  the  field,  while  a  large  one,  is  not  so  large  as  to  preclude 
organization  into  one  group.  If  we  lay  the  foundation  for  such 
an  organization  at  this  meeting,  and  include  the  mine  inspectors 
and  the  stato  geologists  and  divide  the  group  into  two  divisions — 
first:  those  having  to  do  with  mining  education  and  second:  those 
having  to  do  with  public  service,  I  believe  we  will  have  something 
well  worth  while.  This  can  be  done  under  the  auspices  of  the 
American  Mining  Congress.  The  Society  for  the  Promotion  of 
Engineering  Education  might  perhaps  be  considered  as  the  proper 
place  for  the  educational  division,  but  this  {Society  has  been  In 
existence  so  long  and  no  one  has  taken  any  particular  interest  in 
getting  the  men  interested  in  mining  and  metallurgical  education 
together,  so  that  the  Mining  Congress  seems  to  afford  the  better 
home.      I  now  call  on  Dr.  O'Harra. 

DR.  O'HARRA*:  Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen:  Dr. 
Fulton  has  just  informed  me  that  my  name  is  on  the  program  but 
I  was  not  aware  of  this  fact  and  I  do  not  know  where  I  shall  begin 
this  afternoon.     It  occurs  to  me  that  it  is  clear  to  all  of  us,  and 


*South  Dakota  State  School  of  Mints. 


44  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 

particularly  after  what  was  said  yesterday  afternoon,  that  we  have 
two  unreconcilable  things  with  which  to  deal.  We  have  a  limited 
amount  of  time  a\ailable  and  an  unlimited  number  of  subjects,  it 
seems  to  me  that  it  behooves  us  to  recognize  this  freely  and  fully 
and  try  to  adapt  ourselves  to  the  situation.  We  cannot  fore\er 
be  allowing  the  individual  instructor  to  select  his  favored  subjects 
and  we  cannot  forever  try  to  get  into  a  course  everything  that 
may  be  legitimately  allowed  in  it. 

I  am  of  the  belief  that  we  should  first  group  our  thoughts 
around  the  four  year  course.  After  this  is  definitely  done  and 
after  we  have  worked  out  this  problem  in  the  best  way  we  can,  then 
I  believe  we  should  try  to  work  out  something  in  the  way  of  a 
fifth  year.  After  this,  as  indicated  yesterday,  I  think  some 
thoroughly  well  equipped  institution  or  institutions  ought  to  work 
out  something  in  a  definite  detailed  way  more  extensive  even  than 
the  fifth  year  course.  We  at  the  South  Dakota  State  School  of 
Mines  are  not  at  present  so  much  interested  in  the  sixth  year  but 
I  do  feel  that  there  is  an  opportunity  for  some  institution  to  develop 
in  good  way  this  particular  feature. 

Now  in  regard  to  what  should  be  in  the  four  year  course.  We 
all  say  earnestly  and  unanimously  that  adequate  attention  should 
be  given  to  fundamentals  but  no  two  men  will  agree  as  to  what  all 
the  fundamentals  are  or  how  much  of  th3  fundamentals  should  b3 
included.  A  considerable  percentage  of  students  when  they  come 
to  a  technical  school  lack  thorough  grounding  in  mathematics. 
Mathematics  is  certainly  fundamental  and  the  question  arises  at 
once  how  much  mathematics  must  a  man  have  in  order  to  do  good 
engineering  work.  He  will  find  differences  of  opinion  right  there. 
I  recently  talked  with  a  gentleman  who  has  had  long  and  success- 
ful experience  in  metallurgy  who  indicated  to  me  that  he  seldom  or 
never  uses  calculus.  Some  metallurgists  would,  I  fear,  think  him 
peculiar,  but  the  question  arises  nevertheless,  whether  it  is  an 
absolute  necessity  for  every  man  to  have  a  thorough  grounding  in 
calculus.  Mathematicians  will  perhaps  say  that  it  is  necessary, 
and  not  subject  to  question.  Personally,  I  believe  it  possible,  in 
view  of  the  many  shortcut  mathematical  helps  now  available,  for 
an  individual  to  be  a  good  mining  man  without  very  much  calculus 
and  particularly  do  I  think  this  true  regarding  metallurgical  men 
but  I  am  of  the  belief  that  all  things  considered,  both  the  mining 
engineer  and  the  metallurgical  engineer  will  be  better  prepared 
for  his  work  if  he  has  a  thorough  grounding  in  calculus  and  at  the 
South  Dakota  State  School  of  Mines  this  subject  (differential  and 
integral)  is  required  of  both. 

A  man  must  have  training  in  chemistry,  the  amount  depending 
somewhat  on  whether  he  is  to  enter  the  mining  field  or  the  metal- 
lurgical field.  The  mining  man  should  have  at  least  the  elements 
of  chemistry  and  if  possible  some  special  work  in  qualitative  and 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION        45 

quantitative  anaysis.  The  man  who  is  to  enter  the  metallurgical 
field  should  have  all  the  chemistry  he  can  get.  I  say  this  with  a 
good  deal  of  seriousness.  He  cannot  get  too  much  but  an  institu- 
tion can  try  to  give  him  too  much  in  four  years.  One  must  have 
physics.  I  suppose  we  may  say  here,  as  elsewhere,  the  more  the 
better,  but  we  must  stop  somewhere  and  the  amount  must  be 
governed  to  a  considerable  extent  by  the  series  of  subjects  taken 
along  with  it. 

Perhaps  it  is  not  out  of  the  way  to  say  that  my  particular 
field  is  geology.  In  the  institution  with  which  I  am  connected  we 
for  a  considerable  number  of  years  devoted  four  years  to  geology. 
We  gave  general  geology  in  the  freshman  year;  general  mineralogy, 
including  crystallography  and  blow-pipe  analysis  in  the  sophomore 
year;  metamorphic  geology  including  petrography  in  the  junior 
year  and  economic  geology  in  the  senior  year.  I  had  the  course 
arranged  that  way,  particularly,  I  suppose,  because  I  am  a  geologist 
and  because  my  co-workers  were  willing  to  let  me  put  it  in,  but  in 
recent  years  we  have  felt  that  there  should  be  some  change.  In 
view  of  the  fact,  as  I  believe,  that  the  heads  of  the  various  depart- 
ments are  under  necessity  of  considering  the  matter  largely  a 
game  of  give  and  take  I  consented  to  lessen  the  requirement  and 
at  the  present  time  we  are  giving  general  geology  in  the  sophomore 
year,  mineralogy  in  the  junior  year  and  economic  geology  in  the 
senior  year.  I  may  say  that  we  have  added  a  fifth  year  to  both 
the  mining  and  metallurgical  courses  but  this  fifth  year  is  not  a 
requirement  for  the  first  degree.  Its  completion  entitles  the 
graduate  student  to  the  advanced  degree.  In  this  fifth  year  we 
give  the  geological  work,  which  was  formerly  given  in  the  junior 
year,  namely  metamorphic  geology.  This  is  ordinarily  considered 
a  very  difficult  subject  and,  as  it  is  taught  with  us  in  a  very  thorough 
way,  the  fifth  year  students  are  better  able  to  handle  it. 

In  a  recent  revision  of  our  courses  we,  to  some  extent,  re- 
arranged our  English  courses.  We  require  one  year  of  English,  the 
freshman  year,  and  have  arranged  for  electives  in  the  sophomore 
and  junior  years.  The  sophomore  work  has  largely  to  do  with 
engineering  or  scientific  matters  and  is  so  arranged  as  to  bring  out 
to  the  best  advantage  the  intrinsic  value  of  the  subjects  studied. 
Tho  junior  work  includes  especially  techical  composition.  We 
have  for  some  time  taught  and  nowrequire  a  year's  work  in  eco- 
nomics. This  is  taken  by  juniors.  Sociology  is  elective  for  juniors 
and  seniors.  In  addition  to  this  we  have  recently  introduced 
courses  in  conneet ion  with  the  business  essentials  of  engineering, 
Including  particularly  a  consideration  of  the  underlying  principles 
of  organization  and  management.  This  is  usually  given  in  the 
senior  year.  We  feci  that  the  engineer  has  not  in  the  past  had 
enough  business  <  mining.  The  Instruction  does  not  have  to  do 
with  book-keeping  or  simple  accounting  but  rather  to  the  larger 


46  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 

features  of  the  business  with  which  the  manager  of  an  organiza- 
tion has  to  deal.  We  have  no  special  requirement  in  connection 
with  the  training  of  students  in  the  looking  up  of  scientific  or 
technical  literature  but  indirectly  we  emphasize  the  importance 
of  the  matter. 

Now  I  think  that  at  the  South  Dakota  State  School  of  Mines 
we  have  pretty  fairly  solved  the  difficulty  of  requirements  in  so 
far  as  concerns  the  four  year  courses.  Briefly  we  require  all  of  our 
mining  and  metallurgical  students  to  take  mathematics  through 
calculus.  We  give  calculus  four  hours  the  first  semester  and  four 
hours  the  second  semester.  I  believe  this  is  doing  as  well  as 
one  can  reasonably  hope  for  in  a  four  year  course.  We  require 
physics — one  full  year  of  general  physics,  and  it  is  a  good  stiff 
course.  We  require  of  mining  students  two  years  of  chemistry 
in  addition  to  the  one  year  required  for  entrance,  and  three  years 
for  the  metallurgical  students  and  most  of  our  students  take  what 
practically  amounts  to  four  years — this  in  addition  to  the  distinc- 
tive metallurgical  courses. 

The  two  greatest  difficulties  we  have  had  to  contend  with  are 
these — how  to  give  the  student  some  work  in  modern  languages, 
particularly  French  and  Spanish,  and  how  to  give  some  work  in 
certain  subjects  related  in  a  way  but  in  addition  to  the  sciences 
required.  Personally  I  think,  and  I  think  very  seriously  in  regard 
to  this,  that  institutions  generally  over  the  country  today  have 
not  awakened  to  the  opportunities  and  to  the  advisability  of  teach- 
ing some  of  the  most  fundamental  things  in  connection  with  the 
biological  sciences.  I  believe  that  if  there  is  to  be  any  revision  of 
our  mining  and  metallurgical  courses  there  should  be  some  real, 
good,  honest  study  made  as  to  whether  or  not  it  might  be  possible 
to  introduce  to  the  student  some  of  the  more  important  phases  of 
biological  knowledge.  You  may  think  this  strange  and  that  so 
far  as  engineering  work  is  concerned  the' engineer  has  no  particular 
use  for  anything  of  this  kind.  We  yesterday  discussed  the  cultural 
needs  of  men  going  through  our  institutions.  I  think  that  one  of 
the  most  helpful  cultural  subjects  that  can  be  devised  can  be  made 
up  of  certain  phases  of  geology  or  certain  phases  of  biology.  When 
I  was  in  college  I  took  five  and  one-half  years  of  Latin,  three  and 
one-half  years  of  Greek,  some  German,  some  French,  some  Anglo- 
Saxon,  and  about  all  the  English,  literature,  and  history  I  could 
get — more  than  the  catalog  required  and  more  mathematics  than 
was  required.  My  friends,  I  mention  what  I  had  in  college  because 
I  do  not  want  you  to  think  that  I  speak  from  lack  of  knowledge  of 
the  studies,  which  to  many  minds,  are  the  cultural  subjects  par 
excellence.  Some  of  the  best  opportunities  for  cultural  work  are  in 
connection  with  things  far  removed  from  the  subjects  I  have 
named.  It  is  after  all  not  so  much  what  we  teach  as  how  we  teach 
it.     If  we  cannot  get  cultural  things  into  a   course   let   us    teach 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION        47 

some  of  these  things  without  getting  them  into  the  course.  I  just 
want  to  drop  a  thought  in  regard  to  this.  If  we  do  not  teach  some 
things  that  are  not  in  the  curriculum  we  are  missing  a  wonderfully 
good  opportunity  and  personally  I  fear  that  we  fail  to  recognize 
our  absolute  duty. 

In  my  judgment  mining  and  metallurgical  men  should  not  go 
out  from  an  educational  institution  unless  they  know  something 
of  the  fundamental  things  of  life  whether  it  be  biology,  sociology,  or 
something  else.  The  engineer  must  know  something  besides  the 
mere  technic  of  solving  physical  and  chemical  problems.  He  must 
know  something  of  what  life  means  and  when  we  cannot  put  all 
of  the  valuable  cultural  things  into  courses  let  us  see  to  it  that  we 
get  some  of  them  in.  After  all  one  needs  to  use  ingenuity  if  he 
attains  success. 

I  do  not  know  that  I  have  anything  further  to  say  on  the 
subject  of  the  four-year  course.  In  my  judgment  the  four-year 
course  is  all  right  but  I  am  partial  to  the  alternate  of  a  five-year 
course.  The  four-year  course  is  not  enough  but  it  is  as  much  as 
some  men  can  take.  In  many  cases  there  is  good  opportunity  for 
the  fifth  year.  We  introduced  it,  other  institutions  have  introduced 
it.  Now,  if  we  are  going  to  have  a  sixth  year,  let  us  have  it  in  all 
the  best  that  the  term  implies  but  when  we  have  wrought  out  the 
six-year  course  let  us  not  forget  the  good  things  available  in  the 
five-year  course  and,  likewise,  let  us  not  overlook  the  good  oppor- 
tunities of  the  four-year  course. 

MR.  FULTON:  I  believe  Dr.  O'Harra  struck  a  key-note  in 
his  address;  when  he  dwells  on  the  importance  of  the  sciences 
particularly  of  the  natural  sciences  in  our  higher  education.  He 
has  expressed  the  scientist's  view  of  education.  Herbert  Spencer 
and  Thomas  Huxley  expressed  fundamental  ideas  on  this  subject 
and  I  firmly  believe  that  the  day  is  coming  when  most  educators 
will  view  education  from  this  standpoint.  Certainly  it  is  true  that 
no  educated  man  should  go  forth  from  a  university  or  school  today 
without  some  fundamental  knowledge  of  the  biological  sciences. 
I  distinctly  remember  zoology  and  botany  in  my  college  course  but 
these  subjects  have  disappeared  as  unnecessary  for  the  engineer. 

I  agree  with  Dr.  O'Harra  when  he  states  that  if  subjects  are 
to  be  added  to  the  engineering  course  they  should  be  of  this  type 
rather  than  the  purely  technical  subjects.  Those  are  the  subjects 
which  are  pressing  for  entrance.  Can  we  take  the  responsibility 
as  educators  of  engineers  and  let  our  men  go  out  without  a 
fundamental  knowledge  of  such  subjects  as  economics,  biology, 
and  sociology.  There  is  a  tendency  in  some  of  the  technical 
schools  to  make  instruction  more  and  more  practical,  so  called. 
I  believe  this  tendency  a  great  mistake  resulting  in  not  much  more 
than  a  trade  school  education.  I  believe  that  the  acceptance  of  the 
sciences  as  cultural  subjects    and    the  recognition  of    the   great 


48  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 

possibilities  of  biologic  science  and  psychology  in  ameliorating 
human  life  will  come  rapidly  within  the  next  5  or  10  years,  and 
those  of  us  engaged  in  education  should  be  prepared  to  aid  in  the 
change. 

PROF.  SPERR:  In  regard  to  the  many  interesting  questions 
under  the  Symposium  on  Mining  Education  which  was  sent  out  by 
our  Chairman,  Dr.  Fulton,  in  preparation  for  this  Conference,  I 
would  say  that  it  would  seem  to  me  well  to  discuss  all  of  these  ques- 
tions exhaustively  if  we  were  allowed  sufficient  time.  I  have  made 
a  few  notes  on  some  of  the  questions  as  follows: 

1.  What  is  the  scope  and  content  of  a  modern  course  in  Min- 
ing or  Metallurgy? 

Upon  the  answer  to  this  question  there  can  be  no  precise  agree- 
ment among  educators.  The  following  outline  is  suggested  as  a 
basis  for  discussion.  The  number  of  hours  is  given  as  the  total 
time  to  be  devoted  to  the  subject  by  the  student. 

Hours. 

Mathematics  as  far  as  the  calculus 600 

Physics — Mechanics,  Heat,  Light,  Magnetism  and  Elec- 
tricity         300 

Chemistry — Theoretical,    Qualitative,    and    Quantitative 

including  Assaying 900 

Geology  and  Mineralogy 500 

Lettering  and  Drawing 350 

Language 250 

Wood  and  Iron  Working — Shops 400 

Surveying — Field  and  Mine 750 

Materials  and  Mechanics 800 

Hydraulics 150 

Electricity 200 

Economics,  Industrial  Accounting  and  Management 250 

Mining  Operations,  or  Metallurgical  Operations 600 

Plant  Design — Either  Mining  or  Metallurgical 200 

Total  number  of  hours  definitely  specified 6,200 

Specialized  work  in  any  one  or  more  of  the  above  subjects 

as  may  seem  desirable,  including  calculus  if  desired .    1 ,000 

Total  numbers  of  hours  of  undergraduate  work 7,200 

2.  Can  the  Co-operative  System  in  Engineering  as  Practiced 
by  the  University  of  Cincinnati  be  Successfully  Applied  in  a  Mining 
or  Metallurgical  Education? 

Yes,  where  the  surrounding  conditions  are  favorable;  and  no, 
where  they  are  unfavorable.  At  the  University  of  Cincinnati  they 
justly  emphasize  the  importance  to  the  student  of  learning  labor 
conditions.  Many  of  our  students  work  more  or  less  in  the  mines, 
mills  and   smelters  during  their  college  career.       Such  work  is  not 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION        49 

required  for  graduation  and  no  credit  is  given  for  it  towards  a 
degree.  For  many  years  we  have  had  the  question  of  requiring 
such  work  under  consideration.  Under  our  present  system  the 
student  who  works  in  the  mine  finds  his  job  like  any  other  laborer 
and  is  taken  into  the  confidence  of  his  fellow  workmen  in  a  way 
which  would  not  be  open  to  him  if  he  were  placed  in  his  position 
under  the  other  system,  and  we  think  this  gives  him  the  greatest 
possible  advantage  for  learning  the  laborer.  We  advise  our  stu- 
dents to  work  in  the  mines  to  learn  mining  and,  above  all,  to  learn 
miners  and  to  learn  them  sympathetically — in  other  words,  to 
study  the  human  element.  The  good  driver  loves  his  horse,  and 
the  good  superintendent  loves  his  men.  Good  superintendents, 
good  bosses,  are  born,  improved  by  proper  training,  but  not  made 
to  order.  We  are  not  yet  convinced  that  we  should  adopt  the 
other  system. 

3.  What  is  the  Best  Way  to  Make  Room  in  a  Mining  or 
Metallurgical  Course  for  the  Constantly  Increasing  Number  of 
Technical  Subjects  which  Apparently  Should  be  Included? 

No  doubt  there  is  yet  much  room  in  most  of  these  courses  as 
actually  given  for  the  introduction  of  new  technical  matter  for 
illustrative  purposes,  even  in  the  teaching  of  the  so-called  funda- 
mentals. When  everything  possible  has  been  thus  provided  for, 
old  matter  will  have  to  give  way  for  the  new  whenever  the  new  is 
shown  to  be  the  more  important. 

4.  What  are  the  Basic  Elements  of  a  Mining  and  Metallurgi- 
cal Course?     Answer,  Mathematics,  Physics  and  Chemistry. 

5.  Should  the  Mining  and  Metallurgical  Course  be  Recast 
and  Rebuilt  and  if  so  on  What  Basis?  Answer,  yes,  constantly, 
and  on  the  basis  of  improvement  for  greater  efficiency. 

6.  Are  Four  Years  Enough  for  a  Course  in  Mining  or  Metal- 
lurgy, Taking  into  Consideration  all  Elements  that  Enter  into  this 
Problem?  This  question  was  quite  thoroughly  discussed  in  our 
conference  the  other  day. 

7.  How  is  the  Subject  Best  Taught?  Answer,  by  requiring 
the  reading  of  certain  selected  lessons  and  the  solving  of  definitely 
assigned  problems.  The  aid  of  models  is  helpful,  visiting  mines  is 
essential,  work  in  laboratories  is  important,  and  work  in  mines  is 
desirable. 

8.  How  is  the  Subject  of  Metallurgy  Best  Taught?  Answer, 
in  very  much  the  same  way  as  the  subject  of  mining,  except  that 
metallurgical  and  milling  plants  and  subjects  are  to  be  substituted 
for  mines  and  mining  subjects. 

9.  How  Much  Mathematics  Should  there  be  in  the  Mining 
Course?  In  the  Metallurgical  Course?  See  outline  under  1  lu- 
first  question. 

10.  What  is  the  Best  Way  of  Teaching  English  to  Engineering 
Students?     Answer,  first  by  arousing  their  interest,  showing  them 


50  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 

the  value  of  being  able  to  handle  the  language  properly  and  effi- 
ciently as  one  of  the  necessary  means  of  accomplishment;  Second, 
by  requiring  the  students  to  speak  and  write  for  the  teacher's 
commendation  and  criticism.  The  speaking  may  be  in  class  or  in 
conference  discussions  and  recitations.  The  writing  may  be  on 
topics  of  the  students'  own  choosing. 

11.  Should  the  English  for  Engineering  Students  be  Technical 
and  Limited  in  Character  or  Broad  and  Include  Literature?  An- 
swer, the  use  of  good  English  depends  on  neither. 

DEAN  BUTLER:  I  think  as  scientists  or  engineers  we  are 
apt  to  believe  that  uniformity  of  system  is  very  desirable.  I  know 
we  feel  that  way  in  regard  to  much  of  our  work,  and  I  used  to  have 
the  same  idea  relative  to  engineering  courses;  but  I  am  not  so  sure 
now  that  it  is  desirable  for  us  to  work  toward  absolute  uniformity 
in  mining  engineering  courses.  I  realize  that  it  would  be  impossible 
to  achieve  that  end  even  if  we  did  attempt  to  do  so,  for  I  have 
never  found  two  Deans  of  Mining  Schools  who  could  agree  in  all  the 
particulars  of  a  curriculum.  There  are,  in  fact,  many  reasons  why 
it  is  not  desirable  that  all  mining  curricula  should  be  identical.  In 
every  institution  we  have  one  or  more  instructors  who  are  excep- 
tionally good  teachers — men  who  can  enthuse  their  students,  who 
can  make  them  work  wonderfully  well,  and  who  perhaps  mix  into 
their  courses  some  of  these  other  things  that  we  have  mentioned 
and  which  are  not  in  the  curriculum.  Such  men  will  naturally  find 
it  easy  to  gain  a  little  extra  time  for  their  work,  and  will  do  so  at 
the  expense  of  other  instructors,  who,  while  they  may  be  good,  are 
in  no  way  exceptional.  Then,  also,  the  needs  and  opportunities 
of  the  students  in  different  mining  schools  vary  considerably — 
some,  for  instance,  are  mostly  interested  in  coal  mining,  while 
others  feel  little  or  no  need  to  study  this  subject  at  all;  some  of 
you  are  in  regions  where  iron  and  steel  mining,  ore  dressing,  and 
metallurgy,  are  especially  important,  while  others  of  us  see  no 
reason  to  emphasize  these  subjects.  It  seems  to  me  that  the 
object  of  discussions  of  this  kind  is  not  to  attain  uniformity,  but 
merely  to  ascertain  what  other  people  are  doing  and  thinking,  and 
to  discuss  these  questions  in  the  hope  that  we  may  be  given  ideas 
useful  to  us  in  our  work.  I  believe,  however,  that  it  is  possible 
and  desirable  to  reach  agreement  as  to  how  much  of  the  funda- 
mental sciences  of  mathematics,  physics,  chemistry,  and  geology 
we  should  demand,  and,  roughly,  what  the  material  covered  in 
these  subjects  should  be.  I  hope  that  in  subsequent  meetings  a 
part  of  our  time,  at  least,  will  be  given  to  a  consideration  of  these 
subjects,  and  that  eventually  we  shall  find  ourselves  in  accord  on 
such  matters. 

MR.  FULTON:  One  of  the  interesting  questions  before  us  is 
that  of  mathematics  and  which  was  touched  on  by  both  Dr.  O'Harra 
and  Prof.  Sperr.  Dean  Thomson  of  Idaho  will  give  us  a  few 
remarks  on  the  subject. 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION        51 

DEAN  THOMSON  *:  I  want  to  thank  Dr.  Fulton  for  saying 
"a  few  remarks"  as  that  saves  me  from  making  an  explanation  as 
to  why  I  have  not  a  formal  paper.  First  of  all  with  regard  to  this 
question  of  uniformity,  some  of  you  may  remember  a  year  ago 
seeing  a  diagram  showing  the  percentage  of  time  devoted  to  the 
various  studies  which  I  exhibited  at  a  meeting  of  the  S.  P.  E.  E.  I 
do  not  think  there  is  any  danger  as  to  uniformity.  We  are  evidently 
not  in  any  very  serious  situation  in  respect  to  that.  The  diagram 
does  not  represent  all  of  the  schools  but  most  of  the  schools.  I 
am  sorry  to  find  friend  Butler's  school  omitted.  We  leave  out 
Columbia  because  they  are  on  a  different  plan  or  basis,  but  this 
diagram  is  based  upon  the  ordinary  four  years'  course.  Note  a 
variation  in  the  subjects  as  given,  mining  and  metallurgical  en- 
gineering, geology,  chemistry,  physics,  mathematics,  economics 
surveying,  drawing,  etc.  Evidently  we  are  a  long  way  from  uni- 
formity in  those  things,  and  I  am  inclined  to  think  it  is  probably 
just  as  well  to  stay  away  from  uniformity.  Strong  men  will  em- 
phasize their  work  and  it  is  highly  desirable  that  the  students 
should  have  the  advantage  of  it.  If  you  have  a  weak  man  naturally 
his  work  will  be  minimized. 

Notice  the  variation  in  mathematics.  There  is  variation  from 
a  minimum  of  perhaps  5  %  to  a  maximum  of  about  15%.  What 
we  tried  to  do  was  to  take  the  catalogs  and  work  from  those.  By 
careful  work  we  managed  to  get  things  down  to  a  fairly  uniform 
basis  of  comparison. 

Now  specifically  with  respect  to  the  question  of  mathematics, 
I  imagine  I  am  probably  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  question  from 
most  of  you.  Personally  I  think  if  we  are  to  let  mathematics  stand 
upon  the  mental  discipline  ground,  it  cannot  stand  there  very  long. 
Its  position  in  that  field  is  exactly  the  position  Latin  or  Greek 
occupied  30  or  40  years  ago,  and  I  do  not  think  such  a  position  can 
be  held  much  longer.  I  know  there  are  a  good  many  teachers  of 
the  older  school,  particularly  teachers  of  mathematics  who  cling 
to  that  idea  that  if  one  only  had  a  stronger  mathematical  training 
he  could  master  anything,  but  most  of  us  know  from  personal  ex- 
perience that  there  is  no  necessary  correlation  between  mathematical 
ability  and  any  other  kind  of  ability  either  in  teachers  or  in  students. 
As  to  its  cultural  value  I  would  like  to  have  someone  enunciate 
just  what  is  "cultural  education."  Mathematics  has  never  been 
listed  as  among  the  fine  arts  of  life  and  I  do  not  think  it  can  stand 
very  long  on  the  basis  of  its  value  in  conversation  or  "pink  teas" 
or  anything  of  that  kind. 

Let  us  turn  now  to  the  <jurstion  of  its  utilitarian  value — the 
answer  to  this  question  is  to  be  furnished  by  the  examination  of 
the  literature  of  the  profession.     One  can  search  the  transactions 


♦School  of  Minos,  University  of  Idaho. 


52  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 

of  the  Institute,  the  files  of  the  Mining  &  Scientific  Press,  or  the 
Engineering  &  Mining  Journal  for  a  differential  or  an  integral  sign 
practically  in  vain.  In  our  standard  text  books  the  same  thing  is 
true.  Take  our  chairman's  excellent  work  "The  Principles  of 
Metallurgy."  Dr.  Fulton  (addressing  the  chair)  "how  many 
integral  signs  are  there  in  that  book?"  Dr.  Fulton,  "One  I  think, 
but  I  didn't  put  it  there"  (Laughter).  Evidently  the  application 
of  higher  mathematics  to  Mining  and  Metallurgy  is  not  extensive. 

So  much  then  for  the  application  of  mathematics  in  the  work 
of  the  profession.  Nevertheless  I  believe  in  spite  of  all  that  we 
ought  to  have  a  good  proportion  of  mathematical  training  in  the 
mining  engineering  course.  I  believe,  however,  that  it  will  have 
to  rest  entirely  upon  the  utilitarian  basis  on  the  ground  that  there 
is  just  as  much  training  in  the  study  of  a  thing  which  is  useful  as 
in  the  study  of  a  thing  that  is  useless.  I  believe  that  our  mathe- 
matics has  got  to  rest  fundamentally  upon  the  utilitarian  basis, 
and  I  believe  that  our  mathematics  should  be  taught  with  its 
practical  application  constantly  in  mind,  not  a  narrow,  limited 
practical  application  of  the  thing,  but  with  a  view  of  its  broad 
general  use.  I  believe  there  is  a  great  deal  of  material  in  the 
average  traditional  course  in  mathematics  which  has  no  relation  in 
Heaven  or  on  earth  to  that  with  which  the  engineer  has  to  deal  and 
which  could  be  excluded  from  the  course  with  very  great  profit,  and 
I  would  like  here  to  refer  to  the  really  remarkable  work  being  done 
by  Prof.  C.  C.  Moore,  at  the  University  of  Washington— Moore  is 
taking  one  or  two  sections  of  freshman  engineers  and  putting  them 
to  work  on  problems  in  engineering  mechanics  teaching  them  the 
mathematics  they  need,  as  the  need  arises  in  the  solution  of  prob- 
lems. The  result  as  I  can  certify  from  evidence  afforded  by  the 
students  themselves  is  that  by  the  end  of  the  year  they  are  solving 
problems  not  usually  reached  until  the  end  of  the  Junior  year. 
Another  point  is  that  these  men,  who  by  the  way  still  continue  the 
traditional  mathematics  courses,  show  an  ability  in  the  calculus 
courses  which  the  other  men  never  attain. 

MR.  FULTON:  You  have  heard  Dean  Thomson's  remarks 
on  mathematics.  I  recall  we  had  a  paper  last  year  by  Prof.  Peele 
on  this  subject.  There  was  considerable  discussion  at  the  time. 
I  believe  that  the  question  of  mathematics  is  dual.  First,  mathe- 
matics we  might  say  is  a  cultural  subject  or  a  subject  which  is  in 
the  course  for  the  purpose  of  developing  the  reasoning  power,  and 
second  it  is  a  utilitarian  subject,  and  furnishes  one  of  the  tools  of 
the  profession.  I  know  from  personal  experience  in  teaching  that 
students  who  have  gone  through  this  long  training  in  mathematics 
come  to  a  subject  in  which  mathematics  might  be  used  and  then 
lamentably  fail  to  do  so.  There  seems  to  be  no  connection  in  their 
minds  with  the  subject  in  hand  and  their  training  in  mathematics. 
I  cite  a  metallurgical  example.     There  is  a  problem  in  alloys  in 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION         53 

which  we  desire  to  calculate  the  amounts  of  the  several  constituents 
which  are  present.  The  calculation  is  one  of  proportion.  You 
give  the  students  this  problem  and  usually  at  the  first,  not  more 
than  one  in  40  or  50  can  solve  it  and  arrive  at  the  correct  answer. 
There  seems  to  be  no  connection  in  the  student's  mind  between 
the  principles  of  mathematics  which  apply  to  the  problem  and  the 
problem  itself.  I  have  noted  this  in  detail  year  after  year  to 
discover  whether  I  perhaps  was  hasty  in  my  judgment  but  it  in- 
variably comes  out  the  same  way.  The  student  is  studying  alloys 
and  hence  a  problem  in  metallurgy— but  in  reality  it  is  not  a 
problem  in  metallurgy  but  a  simple  problem  in  mathematics.  The 
connection  is  not  established  in  the  mind — not  even  with  the  best 
of  men.  Now,  naturally  this  is  not  true  only  of  alloys  or  metal- 
lurgy but  of  all  other  courses  in  which  mathematics  is  used.  From 
the  standpoint  of  utilitarian  value  in  a  course  of  mining  or  metal- 
lurgical engineering,  I  think  mathematics  is  more  or  less  of  a  failure, 
so  far.  There  is  another  point  concerning  mathematics.  Those 
of  us  who  have  the  "mathematical  mind"  (some  of  us  have,  some 
have  not)  know  that  the  mathematician  must  be  precise  and 
specific  in  his  start  of  a  mathematical  theorem.  But  in  purely 
mining  and  metallurgical  problems,  in  order  to  complete  mathe- 
matical formula,  one  must  assume  certain  things.  One  cannot 
carry  out  the  calculations  without  doing  that  and  of  course  the 
result  of  a  mathematical  calculation  which  is  based  on  an  assump- 
tion is  either  correct  or  incorrect,  as  the  assumption  is.  There  is 
no  question  but  what  the  civil  engineer,  the  mechanical  engineer, 
and  the  electrical  engineer  deal  with  mathematics  in  quite  a  different 
way  and  what  I  have  said  does  not  apply  to  them.  As  regards  the 
mind  training  obtained  by  mathematics,  I  am  frank  to  say  that  I 
used  to  be  a  believer  of  the  old  school,  but  doubts  are  now  creeping 
into  my  mind.  There  are  so  many  men  who  go  through  mathe- 
matics in  a  mechanical  way.  One  can  learn  mathematics  in  a 
mechanical  way.  If  you  do  not  comprehend  the  problem  you  go 
to  someone  for  help — that  help  is  rendered  you  and  the  helper  does 
the  real  mathematical  thinking  while  you  follow  the  routine  cal- 
culation. The  mathematics  in  the  case  is  done  for  you.  By  such 
means  men  get  through  their  mathematics  some  way.  But  how 
much  mathematics  they  know  at  the  end  of  the  course  is  a  question 
and  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  the  utilitarian  value  of  the  mathe- 
matics acquired  in  this  way  is  but  small.  Mathematics  to  a  cer- 
tain extent  are  essential  in  the  study  of  physics  and  chemistry — 
just  how  much  is  necessary  I  do  not  know  but  I  am  beginning  to 
doubt  the  educational  value  of  mathematics  carried  too  far  and  it 
is  an  open  question  as  to  whether  some  of  it  might  not  be  eliminated 
and  replaced  by  other  things. 

PROF.  SPERR:      I  am  radical  on  that  subject.      It  is  not  the 
fault  of  the  student  but  it  is  the  fault  of  the  teacher  if  beneficial 


54  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 

results  are  not  attained  from  the  study  of  mathematics.  Mathe- 
matics is  both  utilitarian  and  beneficial  for  mental  development  if 
properly  taught.  It  develops  the  analytical  capacity  of  the  brain, 
and  I  do  not  think  any  of  you  will  contend  that  the  mining  enginesr 
requires  no  analytical  capacity.  He  needs  to  know  how  to  take 
the  known  quantities  and  from  those  known  quantities  to  find  the 
value  of  the  unknown,  analytically. 

PROF.  WALKER:  My  object  in  coming  to  this  meeting  was 
more  to  learn  the  opinions  of  others  than  to  express  an  opinion 
myself.  I  find  that  I  have  expressed  one  or  two  opinions  already, 
and,  on  the  subject  of  mathematics,  would  like  to  say  another 
word.  In  our  six-year  course  we  devote  a  considerable  amount 
of  time  to  mathematics,  some  may  think  too  much.  Our  work  in 
this  subject  is  so  arranged,  however,  that  while  the  students  are 
taking  the  calculus  they  are  applying  the  principles  of  calculus  in 
their  work  in  mechanics  and  physics,  so  as  the  men  are  taught 
their  mathematics  they  are  instructed  how  this  training  can  be 
utilized.  In  other  words,  we  consider  mathematics  not  simply  a 
training  for  the  student's  mind  but  a  subject  which  can  be  utilized 
in  his  daily  work. 

It  would  seem  to  me  impossible  to  leave  the  calculus  out  of  a 
well  designed  engineering  course,  as  otherwise  how  is  a  man  to 
thoroughly  understand  his  mechanics,  physics,  or  resistance  of 
materials?  In  teaching  students  who  have  gone  through  this 
fundamental  training  I  find  that  they  are  apt  to  use  mathematics 
on  all  occasions.  In  fact,  the  use  they  make  of  higher  mathematics 
in  problem  papers  is  sometimes  embarrassing.  In  arranging  for 
the  course  in  mathematics  it  is  well  to  have  the  teachers  on  this 
subject  confer  freely  with  the  teachers  in  the  departments  of 
physics,  mechanics,  and  engineering  so  that  the  best  results,  from 
an  engineering  standpoint,  can  be  obtained. 

DEAN  WALKER:  I  am  much  like  Prof.  Sperr  in  my  feelings 
only  that  I  call  myself  a  Conservative  instead  of  a  Radical.  I 
believe  that  mathematics  has  a  most  important  bearing  on  all  kinds 
of  engineers  irrespective  of  the  branch  of  the  work  in  which  they 
may  be  engaged.  I  agree  that  the  way  in  which  the  subject  is 
taught  is  of  much  importance,  and  in  Kansas  we  probably  are  in 
better  shape  than  are  many  of  the  schools  in  that  several  of  our 
mathematics  teachers  are  men  who  have  had  some  experience  in 
engineering,  or  who  have  made  particular  study  of  the  application 
in  which  their  students  will  have  need  of  the  mathematics  prin- 
ciples that  are  being  taught. 

My  opinion  is  that  the  subject  is  of  value  from  both  the 
disciplinary  and  utilitarian  viewpoint.  In  its  disciplinary  or  men- 
tal training  features  it  is  true,  as  Prof.  Sperr  says,  that  the  power 
of  analysis  must  be  developed  in  our  students  if  they  are  to  progress 
satisfactorily  in  their  teaching  work.     But  it  is  not  of  this  phase  of 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION        55 

the  subject  that  I  wish  to  speak.  I  cannot  see  how  we  are  to  give 
our  students  the  proper  training  in  Physics  and  certain  other 
allied  subjects  without  a  sound  mathematical  training  along 
established  lines.  If  we  are  to  give  our  men  the  fundamentals  of 
science  in  an  adequate  .fashion  they  must  be  given  the  necessary 
foundation.  In  my  opinion  it  is  the  primary  function  of  the  schools 
of  engineering  to  train  men  in  these  fundamentals.  Unless  we  are 
doing  this  the  student  is  spending  time  ineffectively  while  he  is  in 
our  schools,  and  we  are  not  doing  the  right  thing  by  him. 

The  method  of  teaching  first  formulated  by  Prof.  Moore,  then 
in  Washington  State  but  later  in  the  training  branch  of  the  engineer- 
ing corps  of  the  army,  has  been  referred  to.  I  have  had  oppor- 
tunity to  see  at  short  range  some  of  this  work.  It  gets  certain 
results,  but  I  cannot  see  how  by  any  possibility  it  could  be  adapted 
in  an  institution  that  is  committed  to  the  plan  of  teaching  sound 
fundamentals  that  are  at  the  basis  of  technical  education.  It  has 
some  value  and  under  certain  conditions  where  quick  results  are 
desired  along  specific  lines,  it  can  be  used  to  advantage.  It  is  at 
best  a  tentative,  not  to  say  a  makeshift-,  method  of  dealing  with 
applications  of  scientific  principle. 

DEAN  THOMSON:  In  the  first  place  I  want  to  set  myself 
quite  right  with  Prof.  Walker  and  this  meeting.  I  would  not  be 
willing  at  all  to  sacrifice  the  calculus.  We  agree  there,  but  my 
point  is  I  believe  that  all  of  our  mathematicians  should  be  given  a 
more  definite  orientation  in  the  direction  of  its  application  than 
is  now  given,  and  I  think  we  can  agree  on  that  then  if  in  doing  that 
there  remains  any  opportunity  for  a  comparison  it  should  be  done. 
Then  as  to  the  other  thing,  Dean  Walker  of  Kansas  has  had  some 
first-hand  experience  apparently  with  Prof.  Moore's  method,  but 
his  conclusions  are  not  the  conclusions  which  I  gather  from  what 
I  can  learn  from  the  application  of  things  at  Washington.  It  may 
have  been  a  makeshift  method  as  applied  in  the  army.  I  think 
everything  we  did  in  the  army  was  of  necessity  makeshift  or  we 
would  not  have  gotten  anywhere,  but  Moore's  method  in  college 
work  has  gone  too  far  to  be  characterized  as  a  makeshift. 

PROF.  HAY  WARD:  Along  the  lines  of  Dean  Thomson's 
remarks,  I  recently  was  in  conversation  with  one  of  our  instructors 
in  applied  mechanics.  I  was  making  the  complaint  which  I  fre- 
quently make — that  calculus  is  a  splendid  thing  but  very  few 
students  know  how  to  uso  it.  He  agreed  and  went  on  record  with 
this  statement  that  one  full  term  amounting  to  about  60  hours  of 
our  applied  mechanics  could  be  saved  if  we  taught  that  in  con- 
nection with  calculus.  His  idea  was  to  teach  the  calculus  and  at 
the  same  time  teach  the  applied  mechanics — that  was  his  opinion 
but  I  do  not  know  how  general  that  is. 

DEAN  WALKER:  I  do  not  mean  to  condemn  the  method 
of  Prof.  Moore  as  not  having  any  value  in  itself,  but  my  point  is 


56  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 

I  cannot  conceive  how  we  could  really  replace  a  complete  course 
in  a  mathematical  subject. 

MR.  FULTON:  I  doubt  if  there  is  as  much  difference  of 
opinion  among  those  discussing  this  question  as  there  seems  to  be. 
I  feel  sure  that  neither  Dean  Thomson  nor  myself  would  like  to 
do  away  with  mathematics.  It  is  evident  that  many  courses  in 
the  engineering  curriculum  have  had  a  serious  revision  in  the  last 
15  or  20  years.  The  chemistry  is  totally  different  from  what  it 
used  to  be;  the  physics  is  different;  but  mathematics  is  on  the  same 
basis  as  it  has  always  been.  Why  this  is  I  do  not  know  but  perhaps 
this  is  one  reason  for  it:  in  engineering  schools,  as  in  the  univer- 
sities, mathematics  is  not  usually  taught  by  engineers.  It  is 
taught  by  men  who  have  a  different  viewpoint  of  mathematics 
than  engineers.  If  mathematics  in  schools  of  applied  science  be 
taught  by  engineering  instructors  we  would  probably  obtain  a 
different  result  from  the  utilitarian  standpoint.  Take  the  whole 
field  of  mathematics  in  education — starting  in  the  grammar 
school  where  the  student  begins  with  arithmetic  and  then  goes  on 
to  algebra,  and  then  passes  on  to  the  high  school  where  he  again 
takes  algebra  and  then  geometry  and  from  there  to  the  technical 
school  or  university  continuing  the  series,  and  certainly  the  facts 
are  evidence  that  most  of  those  who  go  through  have  received  no 
direct  benefit  from  a  utilitarian  standpoint  within  the  range  of  the 
higher  mathematics.  This  is  a  fact  I  think  we  must  face.  Dean 
Walker  said  his  students  bring  him  problems  worked  out  by  mathe- 
matics and  he  wonders  why  they  used  so  much  mathematics  in 
working  out  that  particular  problem.  I  believe  that  mathematics 
is^an  indispensable  tool  for  the  engineer  but  our  system  often  fails 
to  furnish  a  good  tool;  in  place  of  high-speed  steel  it  is  made  of 
malleable  iron. 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION        57 


CAN    AN    EFFICIENT    COURSE    IN    MINING    BE 
GIVEN  IN  FOUR  YEARS? 

Robert  Peele 

Columbia  University. 

This  question  may  be  considered  from  two  viewpoints:  that 
of  the  teacher  in  the  mining  schools,  and  that  of  the  employer  of 
young  engineers.  Both  are  vitally  interested  in  the  establish- 
ment of  a  system  of  training  that'  shall  be  good  both  educationally 
and  professionally.  The  student's  point  of  view,  although  he 
may  not  realize  it  before  graduation,  will  usually  be  found  not 
greatly  different  from  that  held  by  the  teacher. 

I. 

It  is  difficult  for  anyone  who  is  not  a  teacher,  or  who  at  least 
has  not  been  a  student  in  a  school  of  mines,  fully  to  understand 
the  pressure  for  time  existing  in  almost  all  parts  of  the  schedule  of 
study.  Every  competent  teacher  of  an  engineering  subject  recog- 
nizes the  impossibility  of  covering  the  ground  adequately  in  the 
few  hours  per  week  at  his  disposal.  It  is  a  truism  to  say  that  he 
must  first  of  all  see  to  it  that  the  students  get  a  thorough  ground- 
ing in  the  principles  and  essential  features  of  the  subject.  If  he 
fails  to  insure  this,  he  has  failed  in  his  chief  function  as  a  teacher. 
The  utmost  care  is  necessary  in  framing  the  outline  of  his  subject, 
to  the  end  that  it  shall  be  clear,  concise  and  logical. 

But,  this  is  not  all.  The  dry  bones  of  the  skeleton  must  be 
clothed  with  flesh  and  life-blood  infused.  The  personality  of  the 
teacher  is  of  prime  importance  in  accomplishing  this.  If  he  is 
fully  competent,  his  own  convictions  will  stand  out  clearly;  con- 
victions that  are  based  on  knowledge  of  both  theory  and  practice. 
The  second  requisite  is  a  judicious  selection  of  illustrative  problems 
and  examples  from  practice.  It  is  only  by  a  combination  of  these 
two  elements  that  the  enthusiasm  of  the  students  can  be  aroused 
and  their  interest,  maintained.  All  of  this  must  be  compressed 
into  the  brief  time  allotted  to  each  subject,  for  lectures,  recitations 
and  the  aecompanying  laboratory  work. 

While  the  fundamentals  of  most  branches  rarely  or  never 
change,  advances  and  modifications  of  practice  oblige  the  teacher 
frequently  to  revise  his  lecture  notes.  The  endeavor  to  keep 
abreast  of  the  times  leads  to  careful  and  anxious  examination  of 
the  table  of  contents  of  each  subject,  for  the  purpose  of  cutting  out 
possible     non-essentials.      Revision,     however,     rarely     cures     the 


58  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 

trouble.  What  the  teacher  is  able  to  eliminate,  is  sure  to  be  more 
than  offset  by  the  necessity  of  bringing  to  the  attention  of  his  class 
new  methods  and  improvements  in  old  ones. 

From  time  to  time,  radical  relief  is  sought  from  localized  pres- 
sure. A  committee  of  the  faculty  may  be  appointed  to  study  the 
entire  curriculum,  and  to  make  recommendations  that  may  alleviate 
the  situation.  The  gist  of  the  committee's  report  is  apt  to  be  that 
no  relief  can  be  found,  except  by  a  general  "cutting  out  of  details." 
This,  indeed,  may  sometimes  be  necessary;  for  there  is  always 
danger  of  giving  undue  prominence  to  descriptions  of  methods  and 
appliances,  the  details  of  which  vary  as  practice  changes.  But, 
if  the  pruning  knife  be  too  liberally  or  unwisely  used,  in  the  case  of 
a  subject  already  being  presented  in  a  highly  condensed  manner, 
the  impression  on  the  student's  mind  is  weakened;  for  details  that 
show  the  application  of  theory  are  aids  to  mental  digestion. 

What  is  the  remedy  for  this  pressure  for  time?  To  be  entirely 
frank,  I  think  there  is  no  positive  remedy  that  would  be  generally 
acceptable.  In  most  cases,  the  teacher  must  make  the  best  of  a 
congested  condition,  brought  about  by  the  multifariousness  of  our 
present-day  engineering.  But,  this  is  not  to  say  that  the  situation 
is  hopeless,  that  it  may  not  be  ameliorated. 

II. 

The  attitude  of  many  employers  of  young  engineers  is  in  some 
respects  like  that  of  purchasers  and  users  of  manufactured  commodi- 
ties. They  have  their  ideas  as  to  what  the  quality  of  the  graduates 
of  the  mining  schools  should  be;  and,  as  they  are  by  no  means  in- 
articulate, their  opinions  and  criticisms  often  go  direct  to  the 
teachers  in  the  schools. 

While  expression  of  the  employer's  viewpoint  is  always  useful, 
it  is  of  most  value  when  it  comes  from  the  manager  or  superin- 
tendent who  himself  has  had  the  advantages  of  a  technical  educa- 
tion. He  is  then  familiar  with  the  schedule  of  study,  and  knows 
from  personal  experience  how  hard  it  is  to  find  time  in  the  brief 
undergraduate  period  for  an  adequate  training  in  the  essential 
preparatory  sciences,  as  well  as  in  the  numerous  highly  specialized 
technical  subjects  that  now  so  urgently  demand  attention.  He 
will  then  have  learned  that,  under  our  high-pressure  modern  condi- 
tions, the  framing  of  a  sound  schedule  of  study  consists  largely  in 
selecting  what  experience  indicates  as  being  of  most  value  to 
young  men  beginning  an  engineering  career,  and  that  it  is  no  longer 
possible  fully  to  cover  the  field. 

Some  criticisms  of  the  existing  courses  of  study  in  schools  of 
mines  are  based  on  the  fact  that  the  young  graduate  does  not 
always  make  good  in  the  first  year  or  two  of  practical  life.  In- 
quiry into  such  cases  generally  reveals  the  real  difficulty,   viz., 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION        59 

that  the  beginner  has  failed  to  meet  the  requirements  of  the  particu- 
lar position  in  which  he  finds  himself  immediately  after  leaving  the 
school,  because  he  lacks  some  special  knowledge  or  aptitude.  That 
such  failures  occur  cannot  de  denied.  The  questions  then  arise: 
(1)  to  what  extent  do  these  failures  constitute  a  valid  ground  of 
complaint  against  the  system  of  training  in  the  schools?  (2)  is  it 
possible  to  give  students  a  sufficient  variety  of  "practical"  instruc- 
tion to  enable  them,  at  once  after  graduation,  to  meet  the  em- 
ployers' demands,  in  whatever  lines  of  duty  they  may  be  called 
upon  to  serve? 

Leaving  out  of  account  the  question  of  the  student's  personal 
equation,  and  recognizing  that  not  all  young  graduates  are  fitted 
by  nature  for  the  successful  practice  of  engineering,  it  is  necessary 
to  keep  in  mind  the  true  aim  of  a  well  organized  school  of  mines. 
It  is  certainly  not  to  prepare  its  graduates  to  perform  some  specific 
round  of  duties,  which  may  form  but  a  very  small  part  of  the  wide 
field  of  mining  practice.  No  course  of  training  could  turn  out 
young  men,  every  one  of  whom  would  be  competent  to  deal  in- 
stantly with  any  and  all  of  the  problems  that  may  have  to  be  met 
by  an  engineer.  Undoubtedly  mining  students  could  be  prepared 
for  prompt,  efficient  service  in  some  particular  technical  position; 
it  is  not  possible  to  prepare  them  to  fill  immediately  and  equally 
well  all  of  the  beginners'  positions  usually  open  to  young  graduates. 
The  chief  purpose  of  a  technical  education  is  to  develop  the  reason- 
ing powers  and  stimulate  original  effort,  rather  than  to  afford  the 
student  opportunity  to  collect  a  mass  of  engineering  data. 

In  some  schools  much  time  is  devoted  to  certain  manual 
operations  of  mining.  Laboratories  have  been  established  to 
teach  students  to  run  machine  drills,  make  comparative  tests  of 
drilling  speeds  of  different  machines  and  shapes  of  bit,  sharpen  and 
temper  drill  bits,  etc.  One  school  has  a  laboratory  consisting  of  a 
tunnel  and  power  plant  for  carrying  on  actual  drilling  and  blast- 
ing, studying  the  effects  of  different  rounds  of  holes,  and  even 
for  practice  in  tracklaying  and  timbering.  Another  has  a  "mine 
rescue"  and  "first-aid"  laboratory.  All  these  things  are  useful, 
and  are  good  and  proper  if  the  school  aims  to  turn  out  foremen 
and  shift-bosses,  or  narrow  specialists.  But  the  time  necessary 
to  attain  manual  dexterity  would  better  be  devoted  to  the  engi- 
neering subjects.  How  to  run  a  drill  can  be  quickly  learned,  if 
necessary,  in  the  mine  after  graduation,  but  a  sound  grounding 
in  mathematics  and  the  natural  sciences,  and  their  engineering 
applications  can  never  be  secured  so  well  as  in  the  school  class 
rooms  and  laboratories. 

A  wholly  different  criticism  is  that  graduates  of  mining 
schools  are  rarely  able  to  handle  men  successfully.  It  is  often 
asked  why  instruction  is  not  given  in  this  important  adjunct  of 
all   engineering   practice.     The   obvious   reply  is   that   ability   to 


60  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 

manage  men  cannot  be  acquired  by  any  course  of  instruction  and 
study.  The  subjects  of  sociology  and  economics  may  serve  as 
aids,  but  experience  is  essential.  This  ability  comes  from  a 
knowledge  of  human  nature,  which  is  generally  gained  slowly 
and  often  painfully — if  it  be  gained  at  all — in  the  course  of  time, 
and  by  actual  contact  with  men  and  working  conditions. 

Other  specific  shortcomings  that  may  be  objects  of  criticism 
might  be  cited.  I  knew  a  case  where  an  excellent  mechanical  en- 
gineering department  of  a  mining  school  was  severely  taken  to  task 
because  one  of  its  graduates,  on  beginning  his  field  work,  did  not 
know  how  to  designate  the  sizes  of  iron  pipe  fittings  for  making 
an  inventory.  It  is  probable,  also,  that,  if  he  had  been  assigned 
to  the  staff  of  the  master  mechanic  of  the  mine,  he  might  have 
found  himself  unable,  at  first,  to  set  the  valves  of  a  Corliss  engine; 
but,  if  he  had  profited  by  the  sound  school  training  given  him  in 
the  fundamentals  of  mechanical  engineering,  he  doubtless  quickly 
realized  his  ability  to  pick  up  the  thousand  and  one  practical  de- 
tails of  his  branch  of  the  service  far  faster  than  could  be  done  by 
his  journeyman  companions.  Similar  reflections  might  be  made 
respecting  the  routine  work  of  other  operating  departments  of 
the  mines. 

III. 

The  conclusion  would  seem  to  be  c  1  e  a  r.  A  thoroughly 
equipped  school  of  mines  is  not  engaged  in  training  its  students 
to  be  shift-bosses,  or  mechanics,  or  electricians.  It  must  first 
of  all  see  to  it  that  its  graduates  shall  have  had  a  thorough  drill 
in  the  basic  subjects  that  form  the  backbone  of  the  engineer's 
training.  In  framing  a  course  of  study  that  will  accomplish  this 
the  teaching  staff  is  forced  to  recognize  the  limitations  imposed 
by  existing  conditions. 

The  great  breadth  of  modern  engineering  practice,  the  multi- 
plication of  methods,  appliances  and  types  of  machinery  utilized 
in  mines,  constitute  a  mass  of  detail  that  can  be  dealt  with  only 
briefly  in  class  room  and  laboratory.  The  mining  course  differs 
from  the  relatively  homogeneous  courses  in  civil,  mechanical, 
electrical  and  chemical  engineering,  in  containing  a  greater  variety 
of  subject  matter.  In  each  of  the  latter  courses,  the  technical 
instruction  is  in  more  closely  related  subjects.  Mining  engineer- 
ing, on  the  other  hand,  comprises  applications  of  parts  of  all  the 
other  branches  of  engineering,  besides  the  specifically  mining  and 
metallurgical  subjects.  This  heterogeneous  character  of  the 
mining  curriculum  is  largely  responsible  for  the  difficulties  under 
consideration.  Thirty-five  years  ago  the  case  was  materially 
different.  Electrical  transmission  of  power  was  in  its  infancy, 
mechanical  engineering  was  far  less  specialized,  and  the  small 
variety  of  mining  and  ore  dressing  machinery  made  the  equip- 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION         61 

merit  and  operation  of  mines  a  simpler  matter.  Hence,  the  at- 
tention of  the  student  was  concentrated  in  a  narrower  field. 

No  student  of  the  present  day,  however  able  and  industrious, 
can  hope  to  acquire  more  than  a  general  acquaintance  with  the 
great  fields  of  engineering  knowledge  now  applied  to  mining.  He 
will  have  accomplished  what  is  practically  possible  if,  after  he  has 
completed  his  preparatory  work  in  mathematics,  chemistry, 
physics,  mechanics,  properties  of  materials,  geology,  mineralogy, 
etc.,  he  succeeds  in  familiarizing  himself  with  the  salient  features 
of  those  portions  of  tthe  allied  branches  of  engineering  that  furnish 
so  large  a  part  of  the  professional  equipment  of  the  mining  engi- 
neer. 

From  the  standpoint  of  the  school  the  great  cost  of  main- 
taining the  group  of  engineering  departments  that  contribute  to 
the  training  of  mining  students  is  justified  by  the  efficiency  of  in- 
struction imparted  by  specialists  in  the  several  branches  and 
the  facilities  they  afford  to  earnest  students  in  getting  a  start  in 
their  career.  Students  are  not  expected  to  become  encyclopaedias, 
but  they  can  learn  how  to  search  for  and  where  to  find  the  data  for 
solving  a  given  problem.  This  in  itself  is  no  small  part  of  an 
engineering  training.  They  also  learn  something  of  which  every 
teacher  in  a  technical  school  is  thoroughly  convinced,  namely, 
that  no  engineering  subject  can  be  completely  covered  by  the  class 
room  and  laboratory  work  assigned  to  it.  Even  with  the  aid  of 
conscientious  collateral  reading,  the  student  can  succeed  in  making 
only  a  general  survey  of  each  subject.  He  cannot  expect  to  master 
any  part  of  it,  except  by  neglecting  other  parts;  but  he  may  hope 
to  attain  some  familiarity  with  what  may  be  called  the  literature 
of  engineering,  and  a  conception  of  the  great  fields  of  engineering 
knowledge,  the  extent  of  which  is  only  faintly  realized  by  those  not 
fortunate  enough  to  have  undergone  a  school  training. 

To  aid  the  student,  numerous  pocketbooks  and  handbooks 
have  been  published  in  recent  years,  forming  a  highly  condensed 
library  of  engineering  practice.  Their  possession,  together  with 
a  general  knowledge  of  their  contents,  constitute  no  small  part  of 
the  engineer's  stock  in  trade.  But  they  are  only  the  tools  of  the 
engineer,  the  intelligent  use  of  which  depends  largely  upon  the 
school  training. 

In  the  usual  four-year  course  the  fundamental  sciences  can 
not  be  efficiently  dealt  with  in  less  than  say  2\  years,  leaving 
1  \  years  (with  the  vacations)  for  the  technical  subjects.  It 
may  not  be  amiss  to  state  that,  in  mining  schools,  the  word  "vaca- 
tion" does  not  possess  its  usual  meaning.  Out  of  the  3^  months' 
vacation  each  year,  from  2  to  2\  months  are  occupied  by  re- 
quired field  work  i ii  surveying,  study  in  mines  and  ore-dressing 
plants  and  field  geology. 


62  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 

Realizing  that  even  the  ablest  student  can  do  no  more,  after  he 
has  been  trained  in  the  basic  subjects,  than  to  touch  the  high 
points  of  the  great  range  of  modern  engineering  practice,  it  must 
be  recognized  that:  (1)  No  mining  school  can  fit  its  graduates 
to  perform  immediately  and  successfully  the  routine  duties  of  all 
the  positions  in  which  they  may  happen  to  begin  their  field  careers; 
(2)  Even  if  the  pruning-knife  be  freely  used  in  cutting  out  in- 
struction in  technical  details,  a  four-year  course  no  longer  suffices 
for  an  efficient  training  in  mine  engineering. 

IV. 

In  recent  years  the  conviction  has  been  gaining  ground  amongst 
teachers  in  mining  schools  that,  notwithstanding  the  difficulty 
of  finding  time  for  the  numerous  technical  studies  demanding  at- 
tention, the  course  should  include  certain  cultural,  humanistic 
subjects;  that  there  is  need  to  widen  the  student's  vision  and 
counteract  his  tendency  to  unsymmetrical  mental  development. 
Amongst  such  studies  are:  English  Language  and  Literature, 
History  and  Economics.  Here  at  once  is  a  serious  addition  to  the 
curriculum  and  the  list  is  easily  lengthened.  If  important  studies 
are  added  to  the  four-year  course  it  would  seem  necessary  to  cur- 
tail some  of  the  engineering  subjects,  or  omit  them  altogether, 
unless  the  period  of  training  be  extended. 

Several  schools  have  attempted  to  solve  the  problem  by  pre- 
fixing a  "preparatory"  year;  others,  by  adding  a  sort  of  post- 
graduate year.  One  school  has  recently  adopted  a  six-year  sched- 
ule. Its  group  of  engineering  schools,  including  the  school  of 
mines,  has  been  placed  upon  a  graduate  basis,  the  length  of  the 
mining  course  being  reduced  to  three  years.  Candidates  for  ad- 
mission to  this  shortened  course  must  have  had  such  preliminary 
general  education  as  can  ordinarily  be  obtained  by  at  least  three 
years'  work  in  a  college  or  scientific  school  of  high  rank.  The 
immediate  effect  of  this  change  is  that  most  of  the  subjects  formerly 
given  in  the  first  year  of  the  four-year  course  are  now  included  in 
the  entrance  requirements  of  the  school  of  mines. 

Time  is  thus  afforded  for  some  of  the  cultural  studies.  One 
of  the  outstanding  purposes  is  to  insure  a  better  training  in  the 
use  of  English,  so  important  to  an  engineer  in  his  professional  inter- 
course with  colleagues  and  clients.  The  man  who  can  express 
his  opinions  and  write  reports  in  lucid  language  has  a  great  ad- 
vantage over  one  who,  though  perhaps  an  equally  able  engineer, 
habitually  speaks  and  writes  in  a  slovenly,  uncultivated  manner. 
The  other  added  studies  contribute  to  a  liberal  education,  that 
may  be  expected  to  prepare  graduates  for  professional  practice 
on  a  higher  plane  than  is  ordinarily  attained  by  those  who  have  de- 
voted four  years  exclusively  to  scientific  and  technical  studies. 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION         63 

Whether  this  expectation  will  be  fully  realized  it  is  not  possible 
to  say  until  the  new  plan  has  been  longer  in  operation.  It  may  be 
objected  that  comparatively  few  young  men  can  afford  the  time 
and  money  for  so  extended  a  course  of  study.  While  such  a  train- 
ing has  very  much  to  recommend  it  to  those  who  desire  a  fuller, 
more  completely  rounded  education,  its  ultimate  success  must 
depend  upon  the  support  of  the  public  having  sons  to  be  prepared 
for  the  mining  engineering  profession. 


Granting,  as  I  think  has  been  shown,  that  a  four-year  course 
in  mining  is  too  short,  is  the  plan  mentioned  above  the  best  that 
can  be  devised,  or  can  the  objects  sought  be  attained  in  some  bet- 
ter way?  Some  teachers  of  mining  engineering  may  question  the 
wisdom  of  separating  the  course  of  instruction  into  two  distinct 
parts,  believing  that  all  of  it  should  be  under  the  jurisdiction  of 
the   engineering  faculty. 

A  fairly  satisfactory  solution  of  this  difficult  problem  might 
be  found  for  most  mining  schools  by  lengthening  the  period  to 
five  years.  This  would  relieve  the  pressure  now  so  severely  felt, 
while  still  furnishing  opportunity  to  add  to  the  scientific  and 
engineering  studies  several  of  the  desirable  cultural  subjects.  But, 
I  believe  such  a  suggestion  should  carry  with  it  the  proviso  that 
the  entire  course  be  placed  directly  under  the  engineering  faculty. 
This  plan  has  two  specific  advantages: 

(1)  It  would  tend  towards  better  co-ordination  of  instruc- 
tion by  insuring  undivided  responsibility  in  planning  the  curriculum 
and  administering  the  school  work.  In  a  course  divided  between 
college  and  technical  school  not  only  may  there  be  "lost  motion," 
but  the  members  of  a  college  faculty,  even  with  the  best  intentions, 
do  not  always  have  full  sympathy  with  the  aims  of  engineering 
students,  nor,  perhaps,  a  sufficiently  clear  perception  of  their  needs. 

(2)  It  would  facilitate  changes  and  readjustments  of  cur- 
riculum, as  -made  necessary  from  time  to  time  by  the  development 
of  educational  and  engineering  methods. 

Some  have  thought  that  the  best  results  would  be  obtained 
if  the  added  subjects  were  taught  by  members  of  the  engineering 
faculty,  purely  from  the  engineer's  standpoint.  For  example,  that 
the  English  should  not  be  a  broad  course  in  English  Language  and 
Literature,  but  should  consist  of  special  instruction  in  "technical" 
English.  I  would  not  advocate  this  any  more  than  I  would  ad- 
vocate having  the  civil  and  mechanical  engineering  subjects  that 
form  part  of  the  mining  schodule  of  study,  taught  by  members  of 
the  mining  faculty.  The  staff  of  the  school  of  mines  should  be 
responsible  for  deciding  upon  the  particular  cultural  subjects  to 
be  added,  and  designating  their  general  scope;  but  the  instruction 
should  be  given  by  specialists  in  each  branch. 


64  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 

As  to  the  substantial  benefits  that  may  reasonably  be  antici- 
pated from  a  lengthened  course  there  can  be  no  doubt.  A  better 
education  will  be  secured  than  that  which  results  from  confining 
the  student's  attention  too  exclusively  to  the  material,  technical 
branches  of  human  knowledge.  "Education"  connotes  some- 
thing quite  different  from  "training,"  as  ordinarily  applied  to  the 
preparation  for  an  engineering  career.  The  longer  course  will  af- 
ford more  opportunity  for  cultivating  the  mind  and  forming  habits 
of  observation  and  sound  thinking;  all  leading  to  the  mental  power 
that  renders  the  truly  educated  man  more  widely  adaptable  and 
better  able  to  solve  whatever  problems  may  be  presented   to  him. 

It  has  not  been  customary  in  the  past  to  class  mining  engineer- 
ing amongst  the  learned  professions,  as  of  law  and  medicine.  Why 
should  it  be  permitted  to  rest  under  this  implied  stigma?  Together 
with  other  branches  of  engineering,  it  is  in  reality  a  profession,  in  so  far 
as  its  practitioners  measure  up  to  true  professional  standards.  It 
deals  with  one  of  the  great  basic  industries,  supplying  a  larg3  pro- 
portion of  the  things  we  use  and  must  have  in  our  daily  life.  The 
degree  of  the  development  of  this  industry  may  almost  be  con- 
sidered as  an  index  of  civilization.  The  calling  of  the  mining 
engineer  is  a  high  one  and  his  education  should  be  on  a  corre- 
spondingly high  plane  of  endeavor  and  accomplishment. 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION         65 


TRAINING    IN    COLLEGE    FOR    THE    PRACTICE 
OF  METALLURGY. 

Ernest  A.  Hersam. 

University  of  California. 

The  earnest  desire  that  we  feel  to  bring  technical  education 
to  the  highest  efficiency  and  service  expresses  an  attitude  natural 
to  engineers.  In  this  desire  is  included  that  of  improving  the 
training  in  metallurgy,  which  is  an  important  branch  of  engineer- 
ing practice.  The  possibilities  of  improvement  at  first  seem  many, 
and  advancement  seems  simple;  but  conditions  under  which  an 
educational  interest  can  permanently  yield  returns  are  not  simple. 
They  are  precarious,  and  extremely  complex.  All  classes  of 
society  have  interests  in  education.  Their  interests  are  separate 
and  different.  Changes  that  we,  ourselves,  would  propose  as  de- 
sirable, must  pass  in  judgment  before  a  world  of  people  and  en- 
counter opinion  from  many  quarters,  and  meet  experience  entirely 
different  from  our  own.  College  instruction  is  dependent  upon 
public  opinion  for  support  and  for  success.  We  look  for  a  base 
line  that  is  correct  and  stable,  and  should  expect  it  of  higher  in- 
stitutions of  learning,  with  roots  at  the  depths  of  all  the  world  holds 
permanent  and  desirable;  but  we  find  the  stability  only  that  of  a 
deeper  public  opinion.  We  know  that  great  principles  do  not 
change,  but  we  recognize  that  great  working  practices  must  do  so. 
Change  is  necessary  for  adaptation  of  the  old  to  the  better  and 
the  new,  yet  no  single  interest  has  the  mastery  of  the  direction. 

The  cycles  of  change  in  educational  purpose  are  of  long 
measure,  bearing  upon  all  people,  extensive  practices,  and  set 
customs.  The  consequences  of  the  change  are  far-reaching,  diffi- 
cult to  detect,  and  more  difficult  to  appraise.  In  looking  back 
through  the  years  to  efforts  that  have  been  made  in  the  different 
colleges  to  improve  training  it  is  apparent  that  the  institutions 
are  in  close  touch  with  the  changing  needs  and  possibilities  that 
the  world  presents.  We  would  not  be  rated  among  those  who  are 
unmindful  of  the  difference  between  change  and  progress.  The 
difference  is  one  that  many  people  who  exert  an  influence  upon 
public  opinion  are  prone  to  ignore.  People  sometimes  greet 
change  as  a  sign  of  life  in  large  affairs,  failing  to  observe  that  the 
disturbance,  which  loosens  the  set  conditions  and  provides  for 
progress,  reacts  in  two  directions  and  destroys  existing  good  that 
we  had  not  seen.  We  do  not  look  to  change  as  an  assurance  of 
progress.  We  would  think  of  it  in  terms  of  rate  rather  than  of 
direction,  and  would  hope  for  progress  through  reason. 
3 


66  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 

There  are  many  different  opinions  on  the  training  that  best 
prepares  a  man  to  become  a  metallurgist  or  a  metallurgical  engi- 
neer. There  is  question  as  to  how  much  of  this  training  should 
be  in  the  school  and  how  much  in  actual  experience.  A  few  people 
believe  that  college  training  contributes  little.  Others  consider 
it  helpful,  but  not  imperative.  Many  hold  it  essential  on  the 
grounds  that  life's  calling  is  enlarged  by  it  and  that  human  welfare 
is  safeguarded  by  it.  Those  who  believe  in  college  education  are 
not  convinced  of  the  kind  that  is  best.  Different  colleges  have 
acted  differently,  both  as  to  the  duration  of  the  course  and  the 
methods  of  instruction.  Many  men,  who  are  distant  from  college 
interests,  have  views  which  they  have  not  weighed.  Others,  to 
whom  we  would  turn  for  the  broadest  judgment,  we  find  often 
narrowed  by  temporary  conditions  arising  at  the  instance  of  the 
call.  Most  of  us  are  skeptical  about  anything  that  is  believed 
to  replace  experience,  especially  such  experience  as  we,  ourselves, 
have  had.  Most  of  us,  however,  condemn  our  own  experience 
in  part,  recognizing  in  it  blind  gropings  to  secure  ends  that  now 
are  seen  to  be  easy  of  attainment,  or  in  better  judgment,  undesired. 

The  productive  industry  embodies  an  opinion  on  engineering 
education.  It  demands  young  men  trained  for  useful .  service. 
Often  the  first  service  is  of  a  highly  special  nature.  Sometimes 
the  college  graduate  is  expected  to  come  prepared  to  meet  the 
special  details  of  a  specialized  branch  of  a  specialized  profession. 
Sometimes  he  is  assigned  to  duties  beside  trained  employes  regu- 
larly accustomed  to  the  work  in  hand.  His  capabilities  often  are 
judged  by  his  first  performance  under  severe  comparison.  Under 
men  who  have  received  college  training,  or  who  know  its  limita- 
tions and  its  powers,  he  generally  is  directed  in  the  presumption 
that  there  are  latent,  within  him,  capabilities  beyond  the  im- 
mediate task.  Employers,  as  a  whole,  take  college  men  in  the 
knowledge  that  much  experience  remains  to  be  acquired;  yet 
deferred  capabilities  command  little  regard  when  there  is  urgent 
work  in  hand.  The  impression  that  is  made  by  the  man's  first 
experience  depends  upon  the  personality  and  training  of  all  con- 
cerned, but  the  opinions  that  are  formed  are  frequently  sweeping. 
The  more  advanced  service  of  the  college  man,  which  comes  at  a 
later  time,  we  do  not  so  often  hear  reported.  Always  it  is  highly 
important.  Almost  always  it  is  successful.  The  success  is  at- 
tributed, generally,  to  the  intellect  of  the  man  rather  than  to  the 
institution  that  has  trained  him.  Faulty  practice  in  the  higher 
service  of  engineers  exists  too.  Often  it  escapes  attention  or  re- 
port for  the  want  of  a  higher  judge.  The  opinion  regarding  it 
gathers  in  devious  ways  but  the  pronouncement  upon  success 
is  commonly  a  popular  judgment,  built  upon  a  commercial  basis. 
We  may  not  notice  when  it  exists,  the  waste,  the  loss,  the  mis- 
management, the  inefficiency,  in  result  of  improper  or  inadequate 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION         67 

training,  so  long  as  the  rate  of  activity  is  high  and  the  balance 
is  on  the  credit  side.  The  opinion  of  engineering  practice  upon 
educational  requirement  is  not  co-ordinated.  We  are  at  a  stage  in 
progress  where  there  are  many  opinions.  We  should  have  under- 
standing to  justify  them. 

The  question  arises  as  to  whether  there  is,  after  all,  a  basis 
upon  which  the  experience  of  different  men  can  be  grounded  for 
a  common  judgment.  Opinions  are  the  essential  motives  for  in- 
dividual action;  but  in  collective  dealing  the  same  opinions,  if 
not  formulated  for  analysis  and  comparison  with  those  of  others, 
are  unsafe  indicators  of  progress,  and  may  be  incumbrances. 
Opinion  as  a  basis  for  authority  has  always  been  distasteful  in 
principle  to  our  American  people.  It  is  a  part  of  the  main  idea  of 
authority,  with  power,  that  has  brought  us  tyranny,  calamity, 
and  war.  We  can  not  pronounce  upon  the  progress  of  college  edu- 
cation without  consideration  and  common  conceptions.  We  must 
know  how  others  feel  and  see  the  common  purposes  recognized  in 
education.  We  can  judge  best  the  requirements  of  technical 
education  when  we  have  considered  the  underlying  relations. 

The  colleges  of  university  grade,  in  which  degrees  are  given 
at  the  completion  of  a  formulated  course,  based  upon  training  in 
Metallurgy,  have  become  an  integral  part  of  our  educational 
system.  The  institutions  are  maintained  in  part  by  the  state  or 
public  and  in  part  by  private  endowment.  All  attract  public 
interest  and  rely  upon  continuance  through  public  good  will. 
Tuition,  which  is  charged  in  some  cases,  partly  defrays  the  cost  of 
instruction,  but  the  income  from  this  source  is  relatively  small. 
Some  of  the  schools  are  independent,  not  being  involved  in  activi- 
ties outside  those  looking  to  the  practice  of  Mining  or  Metallurgy. 
Others  are  subordinate  departments  in  greater  universities  through 
which  they  derive  support  and  with  which  they  co-operate  in  the 
presentation  of  courses  and  the  interchange  of  instruction. 

The  service  of  all  these  schools  or  colleges  is  closely  related 
to  productive  industry  and  economic  welfare.  The  supply  of 
trained  men  in  metallurgical  science  has  been  of  incalculable  value 
to  the  country  in  time  of  war.  In  times  of  peace  they  have  been 
always  an  active,  dependable  resource.  The  material  achieve- 
ment of  the  world  has  come  about  through  the  service  of  men  such 
as  the  engineering  and  technical  schools  provide.  Colleges  that 
supply  them  are  upheld  by  all  who  have  the  vision  of  a  civilized 
world.  The  public  expectation,  therefore,  has  an  important  place 
in  the  motive  that  defines  them. 

Since  technical  colleges  must  function  in  an  organized  and 
complex  educational  system  not  only  must  industrial  need  and 
public  expectation  find  harmony  of  purpose,  but  numerous  other 
requirements  must  be  met.  The  conditions  of  organization  of 
the  institutions  now  existing  show  something  of  the  avowed  pur- 


68  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 

poses,  and  the  field  is  further  open  should  new  institutions  be  re- 
quired. We  observe,  primarily,  the  limited  extent  to  which  the 
service  of  colleges  is  restricted  by  the  men  or  interests  that  have 
founded  them.  They  are,  without  exception,  dedicated  to  public 
welfare.  We  would  know  something  of  the  direct  beneficiary  in- 
tended for  the  service.  We  would  know  whether  it  is  to  be  the 
student  who  attends,  the  parent  who  sends  him,  the  community 
of  which  he  is  an  exponent,  the  employer  who  will  find  use  for  him, 
the  industry  that  will  require  him,  the  nation  that  will  be  in- 
fluenced by  him,  or  humanity  that  will  grow  as  he  may  grow.  We 
would  see  whether  this  service  is  intended  to  be  direct  to  the  people, 
through  opportunity  offered  to  all  in  education,  or  into  defined 
channels,  such  as  prosperous  industry,  bringing  benefit  to  all, 
national  economy,  lightening  the  burdens  of  all,  or  character  in 
human  relations,  providing  safety  to  all.  Our  colleges  are  uniform 
in  the  high  order  of  service  to  which  they  aspire,  and  the  high  pur- 
pose is  corroborated  by  every  contact  with  the  public. 

We  do  not  find  in  these  institutions  the  self-contained  features 
of  private  enterprise.  Activities  and  benefits  are  directed  out- 
ward. We  do  not  expect,  accordingly,  service  restricted  to  any 
class.  The  service  is  impersonal.  We  do  not  find  them  organized 
to  serve  the  private  ends  of  individual  benefactors.  Benefactions, 
so  restricted,  would  be  poor  investments,  and  would  be  unwelcomed. 
Colleges  do  not  serve  the  student  to  a  career  solely  that  he  may  gain 
advantage  over  other  men.  The  graduate  knows  that  he  is  the 
bearer  of  a  trust,  the  representative  of  an  institution,  the  sharer 
in  a  purpose,  and  that  the  purpose  is  high  and  is  consecrated 
through  his  college  to  his  nation  and  his  human  kind.  Colleges 
do  not  contribute  to  industry  for  the  private  benefit  of  one  interest 
over  another.  The  single  interest  of  industry  is  competitive  and 
needs  service  above  the  line  of  competition.  We  do  not  expect 
the  institution  of  learning  to  restrict  the  benefit  to  any  privileged 
race,  in  times  made  possible  by  peace  or  its  assurance.  Science 
and  understanding  are  drawn  from  all  lands  and  rebound  upon  the 
giver  in  the  measure  by  which  they  go  forth. 

The  technical  college  does  not  cast  its  activities  directly  into 
an  abstract  world  of  society.  There  are  constituted  channels  and 
agencies  through  which  it  is  organized  to  act.  Such  agencies 
are:  the  industry  which  it  seeks  to  advance,  the  young  men 
whom  it  seeks  to  train,  the  world's  store  of  published,  available 
knowledge  towards  which  it  purposes  to  contribute.  Humanity 
extends  before  these  agencies  in  need  of  understanding  and  guid- 
ance and  its  appeal  is  for  openness  and  integrity.  The  good  that 
emanates  from  the  college  is  carried  out  by  those  who  have  received, 
and  who,  through  habit  and  insight,  are  the  motive-force  in  the 
world's  material  interests.     They  are  the  only  directors  of  prog- 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION         69 

ress  that  are  hoped  for,  and  are  the  needed  exemplars  of  business 
transaction  of  the  future. 

There  are,  then,  numerous  divisions  of  society  that  feel  a  special 
or  exclusive  responsibility  over  the  work  that  is  done  in  colleges. 
They  are  not  all  looking  to  immediate  convenience.  Most  are 
in  search  of  a  higher  public  welfare.  We  all  would  shape  our  per- 
sonal needs  that  they  might  conform,  so  far  as  the  highest  may  be 
known.  The  immediate  need  in  Metallurgy  is  efficiency,  economy, 
capacity,  and  development.  The  ultimate  need,  however,  is 
understanding,  released  from  restriction  and  encompassing  all 
purposes  inclusive  of  those  which  are  broadly  humane.  Two  sep- 
arate interests  then  arise  in  the  college  purpose.  The  one  is  a 
narrower  one,  tangible,  practical,  commercial  and  self-seeking. 
The  other  is  the  broader  one,  moral,  general,  ethical  and  humani- 
tarian. The  serving  of  the  applied,  commercial  purpose  is  of  the 
narrower  interest,  concrete,  measurable,  and  for  the  individual 
practical.  The  serving  of  the  broader  purpose  is  abstract,  hypo- 
thetical and  seemingly  less  urgent.  The  commercial  purpose  is 
possessed  of  the  spontaneous  force  of  direct  profit  under  the  stim- 
ulus of  the  commercial  and  competitive  system  in  which  we  live. 
The  broader  purpose  lacks  the  visible  incentive  of  so  concise  a  gain. 
It  requires  the  service  of  the  college.  The  understanding  of  human 
as  well  as  physical  principles  and  the  knowledge  of  fundamental 
laws  form  an  impersonal  structure  that  carries  the  elements  of 
greatest  service  to  humanity.  These  elements  must  be  found 
present  in  the  scheme  of  education  to  justify  the  existence  of  the 
college. 

The  training  for  the  practice  of  Metallurgy  includes  items  both 
of  the  immediately  practical  and  those  of  the  less  tangible  but 
broader  motive.  Subjects  may  be  grouped  progressively,  whereby 
at  one  extreme  is  the  idea  of  immediate,  technical  utility,  pre- 
paring men  for  lives  of  industrial  usefulness,  while  at  the  other  is 
the  idea  of  highest  purpose,  looking  to  the  ultimate  betterment  of 
society.  All  are  necessary  to  a  modern  education  in  engineering. 
The  order  of  content  does  not  imply,  in  the  separate  concepts, 
either  the  idea  of  relative  desirability  or  priority,  it  is  the  blend- 
ing of  these  into  the  engineering  profession  by  which  the  relative 
superiority  appears  in  the  application.  They  may  be  thought 
of  as  qualities  in  the  training  but  they  take  the  form  of  purposes. 
The  first  or  narrow  purpose,  at  the  beginning  of  the  series,  con- 
sists in  the  training  of  young  men  for  immediate  service  in  specific 
commercial  or  industrial  activities.  There  then  follows  the  second, 
as  of  a  higher  order,  which  consists  in  the  training  of  the  under- 
standing in  the  principles  that  underlie  the  practice.  Here  is 
included  the  practice  and  technique  necessary  for  illustration, 
the  knowledge  of  the  sources  of  further  information  and  an  element 
of  research.      The  third  purpose  is  that   of  training  to  secure  such 


70  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 

interest  and  insight  into  the  possibilities  of  science  and  economy 
as  to  give  power  to  develop,  investigate,  originate,  discover  and 
invent.  Here  is  required  the  broadest  training  in  principles  ex- 
tended into  the  more  limited  but  chosen  application,  calling  into 
service  the  widest  range  of  judgment,  consideration  and  study 
that  is  compatible  with  well  balanced  training.  Beyond  this  lies 
a  fourth  division,  the  psychologic,  economic  and  social  aspect  of 
engineering,  which  is  the  basis  for  broad  application,  safe  guidance 
and  higher  direction.  The  fifth,  extending  beyond,  to  the  border 
of  abstraction,  is  ethical  and  aesthetical  refinement,  appearing  in 
sympathies,  in  taste,  exemplified  in  art,  culture  and  moral  pur- 
pose. It  may  be  construed  as  a  development  of  the  self  in  the 
capacity  that  lies  above  and  beyond  the  reasoning  power.  Here 
is  contained  the  development  and  broadening  of  human  sym- 
pathies and  human  understanding.  The  training  in  college  is 
concerned  chiefly  in  those  powers  of  the  mind  and  body  that  can 
be  altered  or  directed  during  the  term  of  study,  as  distinct  from 
those  that  cover  equally  the  entire  period  of  life.  The  training 
thus  should  be  less  forcibly  directed  upon  those  healthful  and 
necessary  life  activities  that  begin  in  early  youth  and  endure 
through  life,  and  in  college  require  a  merely  normal  but  wise  main- 
tenance under  guidance.  All  the  subjects  before  enumerated 
require  definite  representation  in  instruction.  In  all  there  is  re- 
quisite the  maintenance  of  the  interest,  the  guidance  to  sources 
of  further  knowledge  and  stimulation  for  progress,  continuance 
and   application. 

Training  for  immediate  service,  in  the  specific  branches  of 
practice,  is  the  part  of  engineering  instruction  that  is  outwardly 
most  evident.  It  is  the  criterion  by  which  the  curriculum,  some- 
times, is  adjudged  practical.  It  attracts  by  its  appearance  of 
utility  and  commercial  value.  We  do  not  have  to  go  far  into 
this  type  of  college  training  before  we  discover  that  we  can  not  at- 
tain the  fullness  of  understanding  that  seems  to  be  required  in 
the  specialized  practice  without  encroaching  upon  time  needed  for 
general  understanding  and  acquaintance  with  other  specialties. 
This  leads  to  an  endeavor  to  secure  both  the  specialization  and 
the  breadth  of  training,  but  it  results  in  a  compromise  to  both. 
Specialization  obstructs  the  purpose  of  education  when  carried  to 
the  point  of  omitting  the  subjects  that  a  normal  man  should  know, 
and  ignoring  the  qualities  that  we  recognize  as  expressive  of  en- 
lightenment, culture  and  education. 

Most  of  the  special  branches  are  intricate.  They  seem  all 
important  to  the  specialist,  engaged  in  the  particular  calling,  but 
we  find  that  the  proficiency  that  is  desirable  requires  the  study 
and  practice  of  half  a  lifetime.  The  college  man  J  hat  has  been 
trained  only  in  a  specialty,  which  he  will  have  to  follow  when  his 
school  days  are  ended,  finds  himself  an  uneducated  man,  fitted  to 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION        71 

do  only  the  few  things  that  would  have  been  learned  as  a  matter 
of  course  in  his  early  practice.  Training  of  this  kind  is  of  the  great- 
est immediate  convenience  to  industry;  but  the  convenience  in 
the  end  amounts  only  to  relieving  industry  of  the  cost  of  training 
its  men.  Such  training,  for  peculiar  service,  otherwise  would  be- 
come an  added  item  of  operating  costs.  When  borne  by  industry 
in  open  competition  this  cost  subjects  no  industry  to  advantage 
or  disadvantage  beyond  that  of  another.  The  effect  of  doing  this 
work  of  industrial  training  for  industry  as  a  whole,  is  not  strength- 
ening, except  so  far  as  substantial  college  education  enters  the 
training  as  an  unsolicited  premium.  Sometimes  the  capacity  for 
the  immediate  work  is  preferred  unspoiled  by  the  broader  outlook 
and  by  capacity  for  advancement  and  higher  service  at  a  later 
time.  It  is  the  kind  of  training  which  industry,  for  its  permanent 
good,  should  not  grow  to  believe  to  be  its  proprietary  right.  It  is 
the  education  of  the  trade  school.  It  is  a  feature  of  education  in 
colleges  where  the  practical  elements  are  set  forth  as  of  prime  im- 
portance. The  wise  and  moderate  allotment  of  time  to  it,  in  col- 
lege courses,  requires  strength  of  college  purpose. 

The  second  or  higher  aim  in  technical  education  of  importance 
to  industry  and  to  the  people  is  that  of  encompassing,  in  some 
manner,  the  understanding  required  for  the  immediate  task  and, 
at  the  same  time,  of  providing  for  the  next  step  and  later  steps  in 
progress.  Training  for  immediate  usefulness  in  specialized  service 
takes  a  subordinate  place  to  this,  though  the  demand  for  it  be 
insistent.  Despoiled  of  its  applied  character  college  training, 
however,  would  lose  its  interest  and  its  life.  The  graduate,  un- 
prepared to  meet  the  reasonable  demands  of  early  practice,  would 
be  found  weakened  and  unsuccessful.  Unqualified  to  gain  a  foot- 
hold in  productive  industry  he  would  be  turned  aside,  at  a  loss  to 
himself  and  to  the  public.  There  is,  however,  need  that  people 
know  that  technical  education  consists  in  something  other  than 
the  mere  habits  of  hand  and  familiarity  with  industrial  practices 
of  today.  The  care  is  to  avoid  excess,  and  to  moderate  the  popu- 
lar tendency  to  introduce  a  preponderance  of  the  so-called  prac- 
tical courses  into  public  training  and  education.  Mechanical  at- 
tainments the  man  must  have.  Metallurgists,  moreover,  must 
have  the  skill  to  survey,  assay,  draw  and  compute,  but  these  acts 
do  not  constitute  metallurgy.  There  is  needed,  also,  at  an  early 
time,  a  knowledgo  of  men  and  the  recognition  of  efficient  operation. 
Much  of  the  practical  knowledge  that  we  regard  essential  and  would 
put  into  our  college  courses,  is  an  inborn  gift  of  man.  A  part  comes 
from  early  influence  and  environment.  A  part  grows  continuously 
during  the  college  life  through  friendships,  discussion,  acquaint- 
ances and  interests,  independently  of  the  tasks  assigned.  Some  of 
it  is  natural  to  maturity.  All  of  it  is  acquired  with  wonderful 
celerity  by  college  men  who  have  been  trained  in  fundamentals. 


72  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 

The  requirements  of  handling  labor,  its  discipline  and  the  signifi- 
cance of  costs,  college  men  are  keen  to  observe  when  the  economic 
need  arises.  The  capacity  for  directing  service  is  in  part  specific 
for  the  locality,  demanding  habits,  principles  and  understanding 
which  no  man,  as  yet,  has  mastered  in  the  entirety.  Whatever 
nature  the  case  assumes,  college  men  are  quick  to  understand, 
eager  to  manage  with  success  and  are  uncommonly  tactful,  in- 
telligent and  efficient.  Training  at  the  works,  at  the  mine,  the 
mill  or  smelter,  in  an  operating  laboratory,  or  in  the  larger  field, 
all  give  vigor  to  the  understanding,  but  the  growth  in  capacity 
and  ability  is  proportionate  to  the  fundamental  training  in  prin- 
ciples that  has  preceded. 

Without  the  development  of  the  idea  before  the  handling  of 
material  begins,  time  is  lost,  dangers  are  encountered  and  mis- 
takes are  made.  The  mind,  unprepared  for  the  confusion,  can 
but  learn  to  be  unconcerned  by  most  of  it.  The  training  that  is 
required  cannot  be  handled  during  the  experience.  Impressions 
gained  while  taking  a  part  in  commercial  operation  are  vivid,  and 
are  evermore  useful  as  a  basis  for  illustration,  but  they  are  limited, 
meagre,  and  the  order  is  unsuited  to  the  developing  scheme  of 
understanding.  Such  impressions,  skill,  and  visual  remembrances, 
require  to  be  established  and  drawn  upon  as  needed,  but  work  as- 
signed for  producing  and  multiplying  experiences  must  be  limited 
to  small  units  in  duration,  and  recommended  with  the  knowledge 
of  the  cost  in  time  and  educational  energy.  The  valuable  service 
to  be  had  by  the  use  of  laboratories,  sometimes  extensively  equipped 
and  costly,  is  apparent  in  this  connection.  The  study  of  the  sub- 
ject is  most  effective  where  and  when  the  items  of  experience  are 
controlled  and  are  not  pressing  in  overwhelming  numbers  and 
where  the  mind  has  time  and  freedom  to  develop  not  reflex  but  the 
idea. 

The  training  of  higher  order  thus  deals  with  the  understanding 
and  the  principles  that  underlie  practice.  The  work  of  instruc- 
tion is  descriptive,  in  a  measure,  as  illustration  becomes  required. 
Examples  are  taken  from  all  sources  and  used  by  all  means  to  fit 
the  end,  but  the  arrangement  and  the  progress  of  the  work  is 
ordered  to  the  progress  of  the  growing  understanding.  So  far 
as  instruction  is  informational  the  capacity  for  retention  is  limited. 
So  far  as  instruction  is  fully  accompanied  with  experimentation 
or  material  representation,  the  progress  is  slow.  The  training 
in  principles,  on  the  other  hand,  which  holds  the  practical  exer- 
cises in  limitation  as  the  means  and  not  the  end,  is  constructive, 
and  encounters  no  limit  to  the  rate,  the  application,  or  the  growth. 
It  incorporates  into  the  study  the  views  of  all  work,  at  all  places, 
and  all  times,  and  builds  a  foundation  upon  which  any  detail  of 
practice  may  be  placed,  examined,  reasoned  and  mastered.  It 
contains  the  sources  of  further  information,  the  means  of  further 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION        73 

development,  and  indicates  the  imperfections  and  the  merits  of 
present  practice.  It  constitutes  the  freedom  of  the  mind  to  move 
from  one  act  to  another,  and  it  provides  the  resource  necessary 
for  the  execution"  of  any  charge. 

The  essential  characteristic  of  education  is  that  it  rearranges 
the  order  of  the  items  and  forms  an  intelligible  system  removed 
from  the  chance  occurrence  of  the  actual  work.  The  develop- 
ment of  the  idea  is  the  elementary  act  of  developing  understanding. 
The  idea  may  seem  to  spring  from  obscurity,  but  whether  we  know 
or  not,  it  follows  other  ideas  and  is  ranged  with  others  in  an  end- 
less chain.  When  the  principles  have  become  mastered,  practice 
and  experience  become  a  continuous  exemplification  of  the  prod- 
ucts of  thought;  and  whatever  the  practice  is,  or  wherever  it  may 
be,  it  evermore  is  rich  in  interest,  in  significance  and  importance. 
Metallurgy,  taught  to  students  in  college,  draws  upon  experiences 
and  illustrations,  but  they  must  be  drawn  upon  demand  and  in 
the   measure   needed. 

The  training  in  principles,  with  all  facilities  that  may  be  re- 
quired, is  the  part  of  life's  work  that  can  be  done  in  college.  It 
can  be  done  nowhere  else  so  well.  It  is  the  indispensable  training 
that  a  successful  man  must  have.  It  may  be  in  part  given  by  as- 
signed and  carefully  selected  reading.  It  is  aided  by  discussion 
and  class-room  study.  It  may  be  brought  before  large  classes 
in  the  form  of  lectures.  It  may  be  supplemented  and  fixed  by 
home  study  and  reports.  It  may  be  intensified  and  measured  by 
examinations.  It  may  be  incorporated  into  brief  exercises  of 
quest  looking  to  the  sources  of  information  in  libraries,  looking 
to  the  revelation  of  advised  experiments,  and  looking  to  the  prac- 
tices at  operating  establishments.  For  the  training  of  the  metal- 
lurgist, the  subject-matter  must  cover  the  entire  extent  of  Metal- 
lurgy. 

The  field  of  Metallurgy  is  a  large  one,  and  the  profession  is 
one  in  which  the  unity  is  not  closely  maintained.  Custom,  devel- 
opment and  practice  have  drifted  and  expanded  until  now  the  call- 
ing is  not  represented  by  the  earlier  definitions.  The  demands 
upon  the  Metallurgist,  within  his  field,  are  extended  and  inter- 
changeable, recurring  from  all  parts  of  the  practice  and  requiring 
all  possible  detailed  knowledge  as  well  as  a  general  understanding. 
Specialization  within  the  field  of  Metallurgy,  at  the  beginning  of 
the  career,  aside  from  the  educational  inadvisability,  is  limited, 
and  fails  to  become  effective  on  account  of  the  irregular  call  for 
men  in  the  separate  branches,  and  the  needed  substitution  of  the 
differently  trained  men  that  are  available  to  undertake  the  work. 
Specialization  in  the  higher  practice  of  Metallurgy  results  from 
the  changing  call  of  practice  for  the  adaptation  of  men  to  the  re- 
quirements of  new  circumstance  and  environment  that  arise  in 
every    man's    progress.      Practices    which    seem    permanent    while 


74  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 

existing  are  seen  to  supersede  one  another  in  rapid  succession 
when  viewed  through  a  term  of  years.  Though  specialization 
may  be  favored  by  the  immediate  convenience  of  a  special  in- 
dustry, and  by  a  seemingly  remunerative  inducement,  it  is  unsafe 
for  the  man  in  college  looking  forward  upon  an  entire  lifetime,  and 
unsound  for  the  world  looking  for  men  who  later  are  to  be  its  guides 
in  the  full  understanding  of  affairs. 

In  attempting  to  define  the  field  of  Metallurgy  we  find  the 
calling  a  composite  one,  including  many  dissimilar  interests.  As 
is  the  case  with  the  other  sciences,  all  of  which  claim  exactness  as 
their  supreme  quality,  it  is  indefinite  in  its  boundary,  and  is  com- 
posed of  elements  that  it  holds  in  common  with  many  of  them. 
The  science  acquires  unity  in  the  fundamentally  scientific  features 
and  in  certain  economic  and  practical  ones.  The  coherence, 
so  far  as  economic,  is  through  the  treatment  of  the  products  of 
mines.  The  scientific  unity  is  in  fundamental  principles  which 
are  drawn  chiefly  from  chemistry,  physics  and  other  exact  sciences. 
The  coherence  in  practice  lies  in  the  design,  development,  construc- 
tion and  operation  of  plants,  appliances,  practices  or  processes, 
in  part  or  as  a  whole,  for  the  treatment  of  ores  or  the  refining  and 
manufacture  of  metals,  by  the  application  of  scientific  and  eco- 
omic  laws.  Certain  mines  yield  gold,  and  others  iron.  The  super- 
ficial relation  between  the  smelting  of  iron  and  the  extraction  of 
gold  is  remote.  The  unity,  however,  develops  when  the  scientific 
understanding  of  metals,  ores  and  minerals  appears.  There  are 
properties,  which  all  metals  have,  that  require  comparative  study. 
There  are  relations  in  the  processes  of  sublimation  and  distillation 
that  are  the  same  whether  the  metals  be  zinc,  mercury  or  arsenic. 
There  are  laws  of  solution,  of  mechanical  separation,  of  fusion,  of 
smelting,  that  are  developed  for  the  practice  of  one  metal  in  the 
study  of  another.  Economy  in  handling  and  utility  in  construc- 
tion enter  all  the  branches  of  the  subject,  being  co-ordinated  by 
the  larger  application.  Into  the  science  is  gathered  much  having 
bearing  upon  the  purity  of  metals,  the  examination,  analysis, 
assay  and  minute  examination  of  them,  and  of  the  ores  which  con- 
tain them;  the  fashioning,  shaping,  rolling  and  treatment  of  metals, 
and  the  influence  of  impurities  and  chemical  composition  upon 
the  desired  and  undesired  properties;  the  economic  conditions 
that  govern  the  possible  production  of  metals,  bearing  upon  the 
processes,  chemical,  physical  and  mechanical,  that  represent  the 
manufacture;  the  means  of  operation  and  measurement  at  high 
temperature,  the  conditions  at  ordinary  temperature,  the  appli- 
ances and  devices  for  lixiviating,  elutriating,  and  concentrating 
of  mineral  products,  and  the  smelting  of  ores.  Furnaces,  retorts, 
mechanical  devices,  tanks,  vats,  screens,  crushers,  conveyors, 
all  come  into  prominence  in  the  practice  of  Metallurgy.  Much 
is  taken  into  the  subject  in  the  nature  of  the  knowledge  of  fuels, 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION        75 

which  figure  prominently  as  one  of  the  raw  materials,  and  which 
also  require  washing  or  concentration  by  processes  identical  with 
those  required  for  metal-bearing  minerals.  Refractories  are  so 
indispensable  in  the  practice  of  some  of  the  operations  of  Metal- 
lurgy that  the  knowledge  of  these  is  of  equal  importance  to  that 
of  the  metals,  while  the  treatment  of  mineral  products  to  recover 
or  manufacture  refractory  agents  becomes  a  part  of  the  economic 
practice  that  the  Metallurgist  must  understand.  Mineralogy, 
Geology  and  Mining  are  closely  associated  with  Metallurgy,  in 
the  practice,  and  a  familiarity  with  these,  and  an  understanding 
of  the  principles  and  practices  that  they  involve  is  necessary  in  the 
practice  of  Metallurgy.  The  common  ground  that  comprises  the 
items  that  enter  the  practice  of  Metallurgy  is  shown  by  the  drift 
of  general  understanding  regarding  it.  The  foundation  of  Metal- 
lurgy and  of  most  of  the  interests  that  enter  it  is  placed  sub- 
stantially in  mathematics,  chemistry  and  physics.  The  unity, 
which  is  lost  in  the  diverse  applications,  is  found  in  the  required 
understanding  of  common  principles. 

Training  in  principles,  which  clearly  is  the  basis  for  a  success- 
ful practice,  we  find  to  be  peculiarly  associated  with  the  power 
necessary  for  development,  improvement,  investigation  and  re- 
search. Research  has  been  always  one  of  the  recognized  aims  and 
motives  of  education.  The  institutions  of  learning  have  come  to 
be  the  dependable  exponents  of  the  world's  published  research. 
In  Metallurgy,  as  in  other  applied  sciences,  we  find  that  research 
is  a  quest,  having  in  view  an  application.  Since  application  in 
general  practice  depends  upon  economic  success,  it  is  a  quest  that 
presents  a  commercial  aspect.  It  contains  elements  that  must  run 
either  parallel  with  prevailing  commercial  interests  or  counter 
to  them.  It  stands  always  in  the  precarious  position  of  b?ing  either 
assimilated  by  industry  or  annihilated  by  it.  Commercial  re- 
search, conducted  for  the  public  good,  in  college  or  elsewhere,  re- 
quires a  clear  outlook,  a  steady  purpose,  and  a  high  aim,  to  convey 
the  service  to  the  end  desired. 

Metallurgical  research  in  college  takes  three  important  forms 
by  which  the  purpose  is  directed  either  (1)  towards  the  training 
of  men  for  their  power  in  the  propagation  of  research,  or  (2)  the 
accomplishment  of  discovery  for  the  betterment  of  the  industry 
as  a  whole,  or  (l>)  investigation  within  the  field  of  Metallurgy  for 
direct  assistance  to  specific  interests,  which  presumably  should 
be  shown  to  bo  also  public  interests.  In  the  treatment  of  this 
subject  I  am  limiting  the  consideration  to  the  training  of  men  for 
the  practice  of  Metallurgy,  and  am  considering  only  the  first  one 
of  the  three  forms  of  metallurgical  research  in  "college  that  are 
named.  As  ;i  feature  of  college  training,  research  is  naturally 
expected  to  play  an  important  part. 

There  is  probably  no  word  used  in  science  that  calls  to  dif- 
ferent minds  a   more   varied  range;  of  images   than  does  the  word 


76  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 

research.  To  untrained  men  following  Metallurgy,  it  means  ore- 
testing,  to  others  it  means  the  development  of  a  business  system, 
to  others  it  means  a  pleasurable  compounding  of  material  sub- 
stances. To  an  omniscient  Creator  it  must  seem  like  an  unenlight- 
ened juggling  of  heavy  materials  to  find  out  facts  that  should  have 
been  known  before,  through  reason.  It  is  one  thing  in  one  calling 
and  another  elsewhere.  In  some  lines  of  endeavor  it  requires  the 
closest  scrutiny,  the  minutest  observation  and  the  extreme  of 
patience.  In  others  it  demands  the  sweep  of  vision  and  the  im- 
mediate elimination  of  obstacles.  It  may  be  summoned  by  an 
urgent  purpose,  or  measured  lingeringly,  in  the  love  of  discovery. 
It  may  be  in  the  expectation  of  remuneration,  or  renown,  or  in  the 
ambition  to  render  service  to  the  world  for  the  world's  sake. 
There  may  be  suggestions  for  it,  requests  for  it,  demands  for  it, 
or  it  may  emanate  from  inspiration.  It  may  take  the  form  of  a 
contribution  of  routine  service,  or  the  command  and  direction  of 
the  work  of  others.  The  hope  may  be  for  a  law,  a  process,  a  sys- 
tem, or  a  chemical  substance.  It  may  consist  in  the  rearrange- 
ment of  knowledge  that  someone  else  has  obtained,  or  the  wander- 
ing search  for  new  items  to  add  to  those  we  have.  We  can  not 
lightly  define  research,  nor  formulate  the  qualities  that  are  re- 
quired for  its  prosecution.  The  purpose  needs  be  generous  and 
noble.  The  execution  must  be  wise.  The  promptings  are  seem- 
ingly the  love  of  truth  and  the  desire  for  understanding.  The 
manner  is  constancy  and  persistency.  The  means  are  strength, 
intellect  and  material  equipment.  We  do  not  hope  to  discover 
all  the  elements  of  discovery. 

Clearly,  research  can  not  go  on  at  the  rate  the  world  requires 
without  support;  and  as  surely  it  should  not  go  on  at  public  cost 
without  publicity.  We  must  approve  of  the  instinct  that  seeks 
addition  of  facts  to  the  fund  of  total  knowledge,  taking  the  items 
from  the  great  unknown,  inaccessible,  or  remote,  and  placing  them 
at  the  service  of  any  who  seek  knowledge.  Research  is  closely 
associated  with  education.  It  is  the  natural  outgrowth  of  educa- 
tion. Except  as  an  incident  in  education  it  can  not  be  taught. 
We  can  teach  methods,  impart  traits,  expound  truths,  or  guide 
instincts,  but  we  can  not  teach  research  otherwise  than  through 
the  natural  course  of  education,  nor  can  we  educate  without  em- 
ploying the  elements  and  the  methods  of  research.  The  one  is  the 
natural  reaction  of  the  other. 

It  appears  unwise,  in  undergraduate  college  work,  to  distort 
greatly  the  trend  of  development  in  the  mind,  to  introduce  a  pro- 
longed effort  in  research.  It  leads  astray  from  the  immediate  con- 
cern, takes  a  required,  independent  direction  tangential  to  the 
educational  purpose,  and  fixes  the  pace  to  the  staggering  of  a 
ponderous  guide.  The  idea  of  research  enters  into  each  day's 
accomplishment  in  education,  and  is  an  element  in  all  proper  study. 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION         77 

We  would  not  insist  on  the  formal  undergraduate  thesis.  It  com- 
monly has  not  a  high  research  value,  and  is  of  varied  and  ques- 
tionable educational  value.  There  is  also  a  limitation  to  the 
value,  in  some  cases,  to  the  student  in  Metallurgy,  even  of  the 
graduate  thesis.  As  a  generous  contribution  to  knowledge,  when 
massive  and  long,  it  draws  heavily  upon  the  young  man's  re- 
sources at  a  critical  time  in  life  when  the  activities  should  be 
directed  towards  the  work  to  come.  The  acquirement  of  experi- 
ence and  the  practice  of  the  profession  properly  are  in  order 
when  the  mind  has  become  matured  sufficiently  to  justify  the  con- 
sideration of  real  research  in  this  engineering  branch  of  science 
which  is  characterized  by  its  application.  The  instinct  for  re- 
search and  the  desire  for  its  publicity  will  reappear  later  in  the  life 
of  a  well  trained  man.  In  engineering,  it  is  the  progressive  and 
enlightened  practice,  with  the  open  and  co-operative  instinct  that 
constitutes  the  highest  service  in  research.  Research  is  pro- 
moted by  the  education  that  develops  both  the  ability  and  the 
public   spirit  in  men. 

The  psychologic,  economic  and  social  aspect  of  engineering 
practice  arises  as  a  necessary  requirement  in  the  preparation  for 
a  career  in  Metallurgy.  Alone,  neither  psychology,  economics 
nor  sociology  can  be  regarded  superior  to  the  applied  science  of 
Metallurgy,  either  in  disciplinary  value  or  human  utility.  Like 
foreign  commodities  they  acquire,  in  Metallurgy,  an  enhanced 
utility  by  their  new  environment.  They  humanize  the  material 
science  of  Metallurgy*  and  extend  and  facilitate  its  application  in 
a  world  that  is  dominated  by  human  interests.  The  student  of 
Metallurgy  has  no  abundance  of  time  to  devote  to  intricate,  de- 
scriptive matter  of  a  remote  kind.  Organized  into  a  system,  treated 
as  a  science,  and  limited  to  the  recognized  and  accepted  laws,  facts, 
and  principles,  these  sciences  carry  a  power  into  technical  practice 
that  is  greatly  to  be  desired,  and  find  a  place  of  application  not 
exceeded  in  importance  by  that  of  any  other.  They  may  enrich 
the  world  through  the  scientific  mind  and  the  honest  purpose  of 
the  metallurgist  by  all  they  have  to  give. 

Training  pursuant  to  culture,  refinement,  taste  and  the  moral 
sensibilities  are  not  equally  thought  to  be  essential  in  the  prepara- 
tion of  the  engineer.  The  severe  conditions  and  hardships  that 
are  encountered  in  the  earlier  years  <>r  practice,  for  many  of  our 
engineers,  permit  of  no  weakening  of  the  body,  nor  of  the  mind, 
by  sensibilities  ftot  required.  The  service  <lr!!inn<ls  accomplish- 
ment, subduing  obstacles  of  whatever  nature.  The  work  requires 
unremitting  advancement  through  mathematical  precision,  strength 
in  planning,  constructing,  executing  and  operating,  in  the  face, 
sometimes,  of  the  severest  discouragements  of  material,  commercial 
and  human  origin.  With  these  there  must  be  constancy  in  routine, 
dependability  and  vigor  in  every  charge.     There;  is  no  substitute 


78  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 

for  execution  and  accomplishment  in  the  requirements  under 
which  the  engineer  is  placed.  We  do  not  observe  in  any  of  this, 
the  need  of  refinement,  beyond  that  found  in  the  instruments  and 
agencies  of  his  methods.  We  do  not  find  moral  initiative,  beyond 
that  required  by  expediency.  The  engineer  that  answers  only 
to  this  type  of  executive  agent  is  not  a  man.  He  is  a  powerful 
and  highly  effective  machine.  He  can  be  used  for  constructive 
or  destructive  work.  He  is  powerful  for  a  good  purpose  or  an  evil 
one.  He  is  a  dependable  agency  driven  by  the  power  of  money. 
It  may  be  thought  by  some  people  that  schools  of  engineering  and 
applied  science  should  be  operated  to  produce  agencies  of  this  sort, 
as  men  of  this  type.  It  may  be  thought  that  we  are  privileged  to 
shift  the  responsibility  of  the  directing  force  possibly  to  the  re- 
quirements of  capital  investment.  But  humanity  has  said  no. 
The  world  does  not  want  men  who  hold  the  keys  to  its  storehouse 
to  be  agencies  at  a  price.  There  is  a  refinement  in  practice  in 
which  the  engineer  has  a  share  in  the  higher  command,  and  must 
bear  a  share  of  the  moral  responsibility.  His  calling  brings  him 
into  contact  with  directing  forces  clad  in  sensibilities  and  highest 
sympathies.  The  refinement  to  understand,  the  vigor  to  execute 
and  the  morality  to  safely  direct,  comprise  a  part  of  the  equipment 
in  which  humanity  demands  he  be  vested.  All  recognize,  in  the 
extreme,  the  uncouth,  uncultured,  unlettered  man,  unlearned, 
unwashed,  unmoved  by  higher  motives  except  those  most  primitive 
and  concrete.  He  is  of  a  common  type.  If  there  is  any  degree  in 
which  these  qualities  can  be  permitted  in  our  engineers  it  is  a 
greatly  moderated  one.  The  hard  life,  which  is  made  the  harder 
by  human  sensibility  and  moral  fiber,  is  made  the  richer  by  them. 
Severities  never  bring  enduring  degradation  when  the  better 
foundation  has  been  laid.  Engineering  practice  has  come  to  de- 
mand moral  initiative,  culture,  and  familiarity  with  recognized 
social  amenities,  in  the  men  who  are  to  be  looked  to  for  the  re- 
sponsibility in  the  world's  progress.  The  finer  quality  is  found 
in  our  successful  men  in  the  places  of  high  responsibility.  If  not 
obtained  early  in  life  it  has  to  be  acquired  at  a  later  time,  at  great 
cost  to  the  men  who  receive  it  and  to  the  world  upon  which  they 
have  operated.  There  is  demand,  it  is  true,  in  industry,  for  men 
trained  in  applied  science  without  regard  to  human,  social  or  moral 
refinement.  Colleges  that  supply  them  are  dealing  in  affairs  be- 
neath their  grade,  and  are  betraying  a  trust  that  is  placed  in  them 
by  humanity.  The  tangible  elements  of  this  training  take  many 
forms.  We  recognize  and  know  them,  but  we  must  provide  a 
time  and  place  for  their  acquirement,  by  the  life,  influences  and 
courses  of  instruction  at  college,  by  daily  gain  throughout  the 
entire  period  of  the  college  course. 

The  qualities  of  engineering  training,  which  extend  from  the 
material  and  applied  to  the  human  and  ethical,  by  gradations,  which 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION         79 

have  been  considered,  can  not  permit  of  long  intervals  during  the 
college  period  when  any  one  has  been  left  unadvanced.  The  em- 
phasis is  upon  training  in  principles.  The  work  is  amplified  by 
short,  definite,  effective  experiences,  in  application  or  illustration. 
It  is  extended  to  provide  the  exercise  of  the  trained  mind  in  the 
creative  activities  of  research.  It  is  humanized  by  psychologic, 
economic  and  sociologic  teaching  in  a  larger  aspect.  It  is  tem- 
pered by  the  influence  of  culture  taught  in  the  humanities  and 
imparted  by  correct  environment.  It  is  guided  with  a  moral 
outlook  into  life.  It  is  supplemented  by  such  exercises,  instruc- 
tions and  activities,  directed  towards  the  maintenance  and  im- 
provement of  physical  health  as  the  college  residence  may  re- 
quire. Trained  in  these  fundamentals,  a  man's  intellect  is  re- 
ceptive to  the  highest  purposes  we  know.  Trained  in  science, 
prepared  in  engineering,  and  directed  by  the  agency  of  good  will 
to  human  welfare,  the  engineer's  life  is  one  of  most  needed  service. 
We  do  not  attain  the  ends  of  education  by  merely  recognizing 
the  aims.  The  recognition,  however,  is  the  first  requirement  in 
making  attainment  possible.  Improvement  will  not  happen,  as  a 
result  of  change.  It  requires  the  studied  effort  of  us  all.  We  do 
not  find  radical  changes  that  seem  to  be  required,  but  we  see  direc- 
tions that  appear  desirable,  and  others  not.  Particularly  we  find 
extremes  that  seem  to  typify  the  immoderate  and  bad,  that  indi- 
cate to  us  the  wisdom  in  many  practices  we  have  today,  which 
are  the  outcome  of  years  of  world  experience  in  the  development 
of  education.  Many  practical  conditions  retard  and  interfere  in 
securing  results  that  appear  on  the  whole  to  be  best  for  all.  Col- 
leges must  see  that  the  responding  to  a  demand  for  partly  educated 
men,  specialized  for  technical  service,  floods  the  profession  with 
men  of  a  kind  not  suited  to  the  world's  greater  need.  Colleges  that 
claim  culture  as  a  feature  of  the  training  must  put  the  substance  of 
solid  understanding,  in  science  and  the  features  of  engineering,  into 
courses,  to  hold  the  standing  exacted  of  their  graduates  in  engi- 
neering service.  The  public  must  see  the  need  of  educating  broadly 
for  engineering  service,  must  know  the  honor  and  the  dignity  of 
the  profession,  and  substitute  the  higher  ideal  for  a  common  one 
of  education  for  a  commercial  trade.  Employing  interests  must 
see  the  good  there  is  to  them,  to  all  industry,  and  to  the  world,  in 
encouraging  a  high  purpose  in  college  training,  and  must  co- 
operate in  employing  the  trained  men  of  reputable  colleges  so  far 
as  the  nature  of  the  service  permits.  Public  engineering  sentiment 
must  look  with  severe  disfavor  upon  that  operating  practice,  which 
is  made  possible  by  the  chance  or  unequal  distribution  of  nature's 
riches,  where  wasteful  methods  continue  through  half  enlighten- 
ment or  concealment  under  untrained  men.  Graduates  must  be 
reconciled  to  the  routine  of  early  service,  and  be  prepared  for  the 
necessary  limitations   to  advancement   that  are  imposed  by   the 


80  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 

economic  necessity.  The  nation  must  recognize  the  substantiality 
of  men  educated  and  adequately  trained  in  applied  and  engineer- 
ing science,  for  holding  places  of  political  responsibility  and  public 
trust.  The  betterment  of  education  in  Metallurgy  shares  atten- 
tion with  all  technical  and  engineering  education;  and  the  uplifting 
force  must  come  from  all  who  have  understanding  and  influence 
to  utilize,  uphold  and  advance  the  cause  of  substantial  engineering 
education  for  the  service  of  all. 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION         81 


REMARKS  ON  TECHNICAL  EDUCATION.* 

Albert  Sauveur. 

Harvard  University. 

This  incident  is  only  a  passing  illustration  of  what,  to  me, 
is  becoming  more  and  more  evident  as  the  years  go  by,  namely, 
that  it  is  not  the  knowledge  acquired  at  the  school  or  university 
which  is  later  of  vital  importance  to  us,  but  rather  the  training 
of  the  mind  which  the  acquirement  of  that  knowledge  implies.  It 
is  this  training — this  peculiar  attitude  of  the  mind — which  dis- 
tinguishes an  educated  from  an  uneducated  man. 

Have  not  most  of  us  forgotten  a  large  portion  of  the  knowledge 
obtained  at  college  10  years  after  graduation?  Do  we  cease,  then, 
to  be  educated  men?  Are  we  less  educated?  Clearly  not,  for 
we  retain,  and  possibly  have  developed  further,  that  mental  atti- 
tude— that  way  of  looking  at  things — which  distinguishes  the 
educated  man. 

If  this  be  so  does  it  matter  then  what  we  do  study  while  at  the 
university  or  technical  school?  While  I  am  not  prepared  to  say 
that  this  is  immaterial  provided  we  study  enough  to  train  our 
mind,  I  do  not  believe  that  the  selection  of  courses  has  the  import- 
ance generally  attached  to  it.  I  do  believe  that  the  educational 
value  of  a  subject  depends  more  upon  its  mind  training  power  than 
upon  the  specific  kind  of  knowledge  which  it  aims  to  impart. 

Hence  the  value  of  mathematics,  even  for  those  who  never 
expect  to  be  called  upon  to  perform,  after  leaving  college,  more 
than  the  four  elementary  operations.  It  is,  of  course,  evident  that 
the  natural  bent  of  the  mind  should  be  followed  in  the  selection 
of  studies — that  persons  with  decided  scientific  inclination  should 
take  up  chiefly  scientific  studies,  those  with  literary  taste,  classical 
subjects,  etc. — but  the  value  of  greater  specializing  for  the  purpose 
of  education  is,  to  me,  becoming  daily  more  doubtful. 

A  scientific  education  should  be  obtained  in  four  years,  during 
which  a  sound  knowledge  of  the  pure  sciences  and  the  rudiments 
of  the  most  important  applied  sciences  should  be  acquired,  thereby 
securing  the  desired  mental  attitude  and  scientific  way  of  thinking. 
If  the  student  (hen  desires  to  take  up  as  his  life's  work  the  applica- 
tion of  science  in  some  well-recognized  field,  such  as  one  of  the 
various  engineering  professions,  his  general  scientific  training  should 
be  followed  by  a  course  of  two  years  of  as  practical  a  character  as 
possible  and  devoted  exclusively  to  applied  science  in  his  chosen 
field. 


♦Reprinted   with  Professor  Sauveur \s   permission   from   Met.    and  Chem. 
Eng.,  May,  1911. 


82  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 

During  these  two  years  specializing  could  hardly  be  carried 
too  far.  The  student,  for  instance,  should  make  up  his  mind  not 
only  to  specialize  in  mining  and  metallurgy,  but  in  mining  or 
metallurgy,  and  in  the  latter  case  whether  his  special  training  will 
be  in  the  metallurgy  of  iron  and  steel  or  of  the  non-ferrous  metals. 
Should  he  select  iron  and  steel,  his  two  years  of  post-graduate  work 
should  be  devoted  exclusively  to  that  one  subject,  or  practically  so. 

In  short,  for  the  purpose  of  education  and  general  fitness  to 
take  up  a  man's  burden,  let  us  provide  a  program  of  study  as  broad 
as  possible,  avoiding  specialization,  while  for  preparation  in  any 
one  field  of  applied  science  let  us  frankly  face  the  need  of  special- 
izing; at  this  stage  it  could  hardly  be  too  excessive. 

The  prevailing  practice  is,  of  course,  very  different,  the 
young  man  being  made  to  specialize  upon  entering  college,  or  pos- 
sibly upon  beginning  his  second  year,  and,  therefore,  at  a  period 
when  very  few  can  make  an  intelligent  choice.  Should  he  then 
decide  to  qualify  himself  for  useful  work  in  the  manufacture  of  iron 
and  steel  he  is  required  to  follow  for  three  or  four  years  a  number 
of  prescribed  studies  of  mining  methods,  ore  dressing,  the  metal- 
lurgy of  the  nonferrous  metals,  while  learning  relatively  very  little 
of  his  chosen  subject,  iron  and  steel.  His  general  scientific  train- 
ing is  narrowed  while  the  specialized  knowledge  acquired  is  not 
the  kind  he  wanted. 

He  leaves  college  a  less  broad  man  than  what  he  might  have 
been  with  specific  information  in  his  chosen  field  too  limited  for 
immediate  useful  application.  Nor  can  it  be  reasonably  argued 
that  six  years  is  too  long  a  period  of  time  to  devote  to  preparation 
for  engineering  work,  for  it  would  be  an  admission  that  pro- 
fessional work  in  applied  science  does  not  call  for  as  broad  and 
careful  training  as  that  now  required  by  the  best  schools  for  the 
practice  of  law  or  medicine. 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION         83 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION. 

F.  A.  Wildes. 

Superintendent  State  Mines,  Minnesota. 

For  the  past  twenty  years  the  writer  has  had  an  opportunity 
to  observe  mining  engineers  in  action,  and  practically  no  oppor- 
tunity to  study  the  work  of  metallurgists.  During  that  time  it 
has  been  his  good  fortune  to  come  in  contact  with  men  from  all 
the  leading  mining  schools  as  well  as  some  mining  engineers  who 
have  fought  their  way  up  against  great  odds  without  the  aid  of 
a  technical  education.  The  field  of  observation  has  been  limited 
largely  to  that  of  iron  mining  in  Minnesota,  where  up  to  a  few  years 
ago  it  was  popularly  supposed  that  no  technical  mining  skill  was 
required.  That  notion  is  rapidly  changing  as  mining  becomes  more 
complicated  and  beneficiation  of  low  grade  ores  becomes  more 
general. 

For  many  years  mining  captains,  superintendents  and  general 
managers  were  promoted  from  the  ranks  of  the  miner  or  from  the 
clerical  force,  while  the  mining  engineer  remained  a  mining  engi- 
neer. His  work  was  to  follow  that  of  the  mine  foreman  or  cap- 
tain. The  tide  is  practically  turned  today.  The  mining  engi- 
neer "lays  out"  the  mine  in  detail  before  the  ground  is  struck  by 
a  pick  in  the  work  of  opening.  Yet  today  many  promotions  are 
made  from  the  non-technical  branch  of  the  organization.  The 
reason  for  this  appeared  to  lie  among  other  things  in  the  fact 
that  many  schools  of  mining  did  not  lay  sufficient  stress  upon  the 
practical  end  of  mine  management,  the  handling  of  men,  the 
cultivation  of  a  good  command  of  language,  the  ability  to  talk 
fluently  while  on  one's  feet,  and  to  grasp  matters  as  a  whole,  ig- 
noring small  non-essential  details  for  the  time  being. 

Men  who  have  won  their  spurs  in  the  battle  of  hard  knocks 
and  become  the  heads  of  mining  operations,  like  to  do  business 
with  a  young  man  who  takes  things  "hot  off  the  bat"  when  called 
upon  for  his  judgment  in  matters  peculiarly  within  his  field  of 
action.  He  wants  a  general  proposition,  clean-cut  and  to  the 
point.  If  at  all  interested  he  will  then  call  for  details.  To  be 
ready  to  do  this  the  engineer  must  have  given  the  subject  previous 
attention  and  the  best  place  to  acquire  this  habit  of  logical  think- 
ing, etc.,  is  at  some  good  mining  school.  Habits  on  these  lines 
formed  there  are  likely  to  stay  with  him  throughout  his  profes- 
sional career.  He  must  bear  in  mind  that  in  order  to  advance  he 
must  at  all  times  take  a  keen,  active  interest  in  his  work  and  do 
just  a  little  more  than  is  required  of  him.  Elbert  Hubbard  once 
said,  "A  man  who  does  no  more  than  he  is  paid  to  do,  seldom  is 


84  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 

paid  for  more  than  he  does."  In  other  words,  to  make  himself 
valuable  to  his  employer  so  that  he  may  be  promoted,  he  must 
be  alive  to  the  interest  of  such  employer  at  all  reasonable  times. 
The  question  is  how  can  these  principles  be  inculcated  so  they 
may  be  a  rule  of  action  for  the  mining  engineer?  A  good  com- 
mand of  language  necessitates  much  thought  in  the  choice  of  words. 
The  three  "P's"  of  rhetoric,  purity,  propriety  and  precision,  will 
come  only  from  a  clean-cut  snappy  course  in  school.  It  should  not 
be  considered  as  a  mere  nominal  topic  of  study  in  the  course  but 
a  full  requirement. 

The  art  of  talking  while  on  one's  feet  will  necessitate  the 
cultivation  of  careful,  concise  and  logical  habits  of  thought  and 
general  alertness  of  mind. 

An  engineer  without  the  faculty  of  expressing  himself  clearly 
may  have  some  of  the  greatest  plans  in  mind  and  yet  be  compelled 
to  play  the  role  of  the  "Gem  of  purest  ray  serene"  that  we  read 
of  in  Grey's  Elegy.  A  short  course  in  logic  and  argument  would 
not  go  amiss. 

The  matter  of  mine  management  has  not  in  the  past  received 
the  attention  it  deserves  heretofore  in  some  technical  schools. 
Until  proven  conclusively  to  the  contrary,  a  school  should  regard 
a  student  as  Napoleon  is  said  to  have  regarded  his  soldiers,  that 
every  private  carried  a  field  marshal's  baton  in  his  knapsack. 
As  soon  as  a  student  has  shown  himself  lacking  in  the  qualities 
of  mind  necessary  in  an  engineer  he  should  be  dismissed  from 
school.  To  be  sure  this  should  be  the  policy  of  all  professional 
schools  and  perhaps  is  of  most,  yet  many  square  pegs  for  round 
holes  come  from  our  professional  schools  to  eke  out  a  scanty  living 
or  to  desert  the  profession  at  an  early  date. 

A  very  commendable  tendency  in  engineering  colleges  of  late 
is  to  secure  the  services  of  practical  men  as  instructors  and  to 
permit  the  instructors  to  engage  in  the  practice  of  their  profes- 
sions as  consulting  engineers.  This  brings  to  the  class  room  and 
to  the  student  a  touch  of  reality  that  can  not  come  in  any  other 
way.  Such  practice  will  also  encourage  men  of  standing  to  give 
a  portion  of  their  time  to  teaching  and  thus  bring  to  their  classes 
a  glimpse  of  the  real  world  of  action  that  the  young  men  must  soon 
enter.  * 

Some  one  might  suggest  that  this  would  make  the  course  too 
heavy  for  the  usual  four  years.  This  might  be  true  but  would 
it  not  be  well  to  eliminate  some  of  the  highly  technical  features  of 
some  of  the  subjects  for  the  sake  of  broadening  the  engineer  to 
enable  him  to  take  a  larger  share  in  public  questions,  so  vitally 
affecting  all?  The  time  has  passed  when  a  group  of  professional 
citizens  might  shut  themselves  up  and  take  no  part  in  public  ques- 
tions. He  owes  society  a  duty  that  no  other  technically  trained 
man  can  perform.  If  he  refuses  to  take  his  place  in  this  contest, 
he  can  not  be  heard  to  complain. 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION        85 

The  engineer  can  be  a  power  for  good  in  any  movement  as 
evidenced  by  the  activities  of  several  men  prominently  in  the 
public  eye  at  present.  The  fire  that  should  try  his  metal  is  the 
school  where  he  receives  his  technical  training.  His  training  to 
think  logically  and  to  speak  and  write  clearly  should  go  hand 
in  hand  with-  his  technical  training,  not  precede  or  follow  it. 

No  doubt  many  schools  are  doing  this  very  thing,  but  the  writer 
mentions  the  matter  here  largely  for  the  purpose  of  discussion  and 
not  to  find  fault  with  any  particular  curriculum. 


86  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 


REMARKS  ON  MINING  EDUCATION. 

D.  J.  Demorest. 

Ohio  State  University. 

I  am  interested  in  the  work  of  your  committee  on  Mining 
Education  and  have  thought  over  your  questionnaire  quite  a  bit. 
We  have  been  having  almost  countless  committee  meetings  on 
this  subject  in  the  Engineering  College  here  and  have  had  so  many 
divergent  points  of  view  that  we  have  not  been  able  to  advance 
very  far.  There  is  always  the  struggle  between  the  men  who 
want  to  "educate  students  broadly  first,  and  specifically  in  Mining 
and  Metallurgy  or  some  other  engineering  branch,  second,"  and 
the  men  who  want  first  to  make  thoroughly  trained  technicians 
out  of  the  boys.  Now  as  I  see  it  the  first  and  prime  requisite  is 
"a  broad  education,"  that  is,  that  our  boys  should  come  to  recog- 
nize themselves  as  related  closely  to  the  rest  of  mankind  and  then 
get  built  up  in  their  minds  the  ideal  of  service  and  specifically  serv- 
ice as  engineers.  To  deliver  this  service  will  require,  of  course, 
a  thorough  technical  training. 

How  then  will  we  build  a  course  in  Mining  and  Metallurgy 
that  will  accomplish  this  end?  The  first  requisite  is  one  where  we 
frequently  fall  down — we  must  have  a  strong  faculty  animated 
with  this  ideal.  I  declare  that  no  course  however  cleverly  built 
will  accomplish  the  ends  mentioned  above  without  this  carefully 
built  faculty  of  teachers,  and  I  believe  the  chief  task  of  a  director 
is  to  find  the  men  and  erect  a  faculty  of  the  right  caliber. 

Having  the  right  faculty  then  what  shall  be  the  curriculum? 
I  am  firmly  impressed  with  the  necessity  of  sticking  to  the  four- 
year  course  for  most  students  but  a  five-year  curriculum  should 
be  offered  to  those  students  who  have  displayed  first  class  ability. 
It  would  be  a  waste  of  his  time  to  keep  the  general  run  of  students 
in  college  five  years  but  the  excellent  student  can  take  good  ad- 
vantage of  the  fifth  year.  Granting  that  the  four-year  curriculum 
will  be  the  usual  one,  what  courses  should  be  given  in  the  four 
years?  The  prime  idea  in  the  scientific  courses  should  be  "a 
thorough  training  in  the  engineering  fundamentals  of  chemistry, 
physics,  mathematics  to  and  through  mechanics"  without  hastening 
to  get  thru  these  subjects  to  get  to  the  more  technical  subjects. 
All  the  rest  of  the  engineering  course  will  be  unsatisfactory  unless 
these  fundamentals  are  well  done.  And  right  here  is  one  of  our 
sins  in  engineering  training — we  allow  the  boys  to  be  trained  in 
these  fundamentals  by  immature  men  who  are  unaware  of  the 
application  of  these  subjects  to  engineering  problems  and  worse 
yet  these  teachers  are  usually  unaware  that  the  important  problem 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION        87 

before  him  is  how  to  understand  the  men  in  his  classes  and  interest 
them  and  get  his  teaching  over  to  them.  Really  our  chief  problem 
in  engineering  training  is  not  the  student  but  the  teacher.  As- 
suming now  that  we  have  a  pretty  good  faculty  we  will  give  two 
years  of  four  or  five  hours  each  throughout  the  entire  two  years 
to  chemistry,  physics,  and  mathematics,  with  a  course  in  engi- 
neering drawing  also  throughout  the  two  years.  I  think  it  is  also 
quite  essential  that  for  at  least  one  hour  per  week  the  men  should 
be  addressed  by  mature  men  in  the  engineering  profession  on  en- 
gineering ethics,  citizenship,  etc.  Of  course  the  usual  physical 
education  with  its  training  in  hygiene  should  be  given  throughout 
these  two  years.     This  fills  the  first  two  years. 

Following  in  the  third  year  we  should  have  a  year  of  mechanics 
of  five  hours  throughout  the  year,  a  year  of  English  (taught  by  a 
department  under  the  control  of  the  engineering  college)  of  three 
hours,  a  year  of  elective  of  three  hours  under  the  control  of  the 
department  giving  the  degree  and  the  rest  of  the  time  given  to 
technical  studies.  The  fourth  year  should  have  three  hours 
throughout  the  year  of  elective  under  the  eontrol  of  the  depart- 
ment. The  purpose  of  this  elective  is  to  give  to  each  student 
that  study  which  he  most  needs,  maybe  history  or  biology,  English 
or  economics,  etc.  The  rest  of  the  year  should  be  given  to  techni- 
cal studies,  but  at  least  five  hours  throughout  the  year  should  be 
given  to  "technical  investigations"  in  which  the  men  each  or  in 
groups  investigate  through  carefully  and  thoroughly  one  or  more 
subjects. 

The  course  would  in  my  opinion  be  stronger  if  at  the  end  of 
the  third  year  each  student  were  required  to  spend  an  entire  year 
in  a  mine  or  plant  and  make  a  complete  report  of  the  year  before 
his  fellow  students  and  his  teachers  when  he  comes  back.  This 
would  make  a  five-year  course  one  of  which  would  be  spent  re- 
muneratively. 

I  think  that  the  thing  of  importance  in  the  above  is  that  the 
engineering  students  must  be  thoroughly  trained  in  their  funda- 
mentals before  they  are  allowed  to  go  farther,  and  that  their  teach- 
ers must  study  primarily  the  student  and  how  to  get  the  message 
over  to  him. 


88  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 


NOTES  ON  THE  SUBJECT  OF  MINING  AND  METALLURGI- 
CAL EDUCATION  IN  REFERENCE  TO  THE  RECENT 
GRADUATES  OF  MINING  COLLEGES. 

G.   Chester  Brown, 

Chief  Mining  Engineer,  California  Industrial  Accident  Commission. 

To  me  it  appears  that  the  following  subjects  have  not  been 
covered  in  the  mining  courses  given  by  the  colleges  in  this  country. 

1.  A  thorough  course  in  composition  so  that  the  student  will 
be  able  to  intelligently  express  his  thoughts  and  to  convey  to  the 
reader  the  ideas  that  he  has  in  mind. 

2.  A  course  in  oral  expression  so  that  he  may  be  able  to  verb- 
ally convey  to  his  listeners  the  ideas  he  desires  to  express. 

3.  A  practical  course  in  the  use  and  application  of  electrical 
equipment  for  mines. 

4.  A  practical  course  in  cost  keeping  and  accounting. 

5.  A  study  of  the  care  and  use  of  hoisting  ropes  which  might 
be  embodied  in  the  course  now  given  in  mining  universities  which 
is  designated  as  "Strength  of  Materials." 

6.  The  student  should  be  impressed  with  the  fact  that  the 
handling  of  men  is  of  prime  importance  in  his  work.  A  course 
might  be  devised  under  the  title  of  "The  Human  Element  in 
Engineering."  All  of  us  realize  that  the  human  element  is  a  very 
important  factor  in  the  success  of  any  organization;  this  is  es- 
pecially true  of  the  mining  industry  because  the  superintendent 
or  the  manager  must,  through  his  assistants  convey  to  the  employees 
the  fact  that  he  is  human  and  that  their  welfare  is  his  concern. 
Many  mining  companies  have  been  wrecked  because  of  the  atti- 
tude of  the  manager,  the  superintendent  and  the  bosses.  For 
any  venture  to  be  a  success,  co-operation  of  the  employees  must  be 
secured.  I  believe  this  important  feature  has  been  entirely  over- 
looked in  most  of  the  mining  colleges. 

7.  Another  important  point  occurs  to  me  which  deals  with 
mine  safety  work.  The  average  student,  upon  graduating  from  a 
college  of  mines,  has  but  a  remote  conception  of  the  meaning  of 
the  phrase  "Mine  Safety."  We  all  know  that  thousands  of  dol- 
lars per  year  are  being  spent  in  the  various  states  in  the  Union 
in  an  endeavor  to  prevent  injuries  to  the  employes  in  the  mines, 
yet  the  average  student  starts  his  life's  work  with  a  meager  knowl- 
edge of  this  very  important  feature  of  the  industry.  Fatalities 
in  the  mines  are  very  costly,  not  only  because  of  the  award  to  the 
dependents,  but  because  the  working  place  where  this  fatality 
occurs  is  abandoned  for  a  time,  and  moreover,  after  a  fatality, 
a  number  of  the  employees,  especially  the  foreigners,  leave  the  job. 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION         89 


A  LIST  OF  REFERENCES  ON  ENGINEERING  EDUCATION. 

Compiled  by  Mrs.  H.  O.  Norville,  Librarian. 

The  following  list  of  publications  on  Engineering  Education 
is  arranged  chronologically  with  special  courses,  such  as  Metallurgi- 
cal Engineering,  Chemical  Engineering,  Mining  and  others  in- 
cluded with  the  more  general  articles. 

The  list  is  of  necessity  short,  and  no  attempt  has  been  made 
to  gather  together  material  other  than  that  available  at  the  Mis- 
souri School  of  Mines.  A  key  to  the  abbreviations  will  be  found 
at  the  end  of  the  list. 

1912-1915. 

Engineering    education    in    relation    to    training    for    engineering 

work.— E.  McCullough.     A.  S.  C.  E.    Trans.   Vol.  75,  pp.  107- 

9-91,  1912.     Discussion,  pp.  1092-1147. 
Training  of  engineers  at  Yale. — T.  Wilson.     Power,  vol.  37,  pp. 

772-4,   June   3,    1913. 
Co-operative  technical  schools  meet  present  needs. — F.  E.  Ayer. 

E.  N.,  vol.  74,  pp.  1059-1060,  1915. 
Co-operative  technical  schools  meet  present  needs.     E.   N.,   vol. 

74,  p.  1059-61,  Dec.  2,  1915. 
Engineering   education   faults. — W.    M.   Wilson,    E.    N.,    vol.    74, 

pp.  1211-13,  Dec.  23,  1915. 
Report  of  progress  in  the  study  of  engineering  education. — C.  R. 

Mann.     Soc.  Prom.  Eng.  Educ.  Bui.,  vol.  6,  pp.  100-9,  Oct., 

1915. 

1916. 

Education   of  engineers. — C.   R.   Mann.     Col.    Univ.    Q.,   vol.    19, 
p.  56-73,  Dec,  1916. 

Subject     treated     under     three     headings:      1.      His- 
torical background.     2.     Professional  demand.    3.     Work 
of  the  schools. 
Engineering  education  in  the  United  States. — C.  E.  Howe.     C.  E. 
S.,  Journ.,  vol.  8,  pp.  417-38,  May,  1916. 
Development  and  requirements. 
Engineering  schools  and  industrial  methods. — H.  L.  Gantt.     E.  M., 

vol.  51,  p.  161,  May,  1916. 
English  of  engineers. — J.  M.  Telleen.     C.  E.  S.,  Journ.,  vol.   19, 
pp.  97-112,  Sept.,  1916. 

Criticism  and  suggestions,  with  general  discussion. 
An  experiment  in  co-ordination  of  mathematics  with  engineering 
subjects. — R.  E.  Root.     Eng.   Ed.,   vol.   7,  pp.  190-196,  Dec, 
1916. 


90  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 

How  co-operative  courses  train  young  engineers. — H.  A.   String- 
fellow.     E.  N.,  vol.  75,  pp.  63-4,  1916. 

Experiences  of  part  school  and  part  practice  methods 
installed  in  the  University  of  Rochester. 
Influence  of  technical  journalism  on  mining  education   (Read  be- 
fore   the    Pan.-Amer.    Scientific    Congress). — T.    A.    Rickard. 
M.  &  S.  P.,  vol.  112,  pp.  229-31,  Feb.  12,  1916. 
Modern    engineer. — L.    Addicks.     A.    El.    S.,    vol.    29,    pp.    21-4, 
April  27,  1916. 

Presidential  address. 
Pirate  pills  for  engineers. — L.  M.  Cox.     E.  M.,  vol.  51,  pp.  548-52, 
July,  1916. 

Semi-humorous  paper. 
A  proposed  reorganization  of  engineering  instruction  for  the 
Freshman  and  Sophomore  years. — L.  E.  Akeley.  Eng.  Ed., 
vol.  7,  pp.  197-210,  Dec,  1916. 
Report  of  progress  in  the  study  of  engineering  education. — C.  R. 
Mann.  Eng.  Ed.,  vol.  24,  pp.  48-66,  Nov.,  1916.  Discussion, 
pp.  67-97. 

Reviews  history  of  American  system  of  education, 
and  considers  the  professional  demand  and  work  of  the 
schools. 
Some  conditions  affecting  education  in  mining  and  metallurgy. — 
J.  C.  Gwillim.     Can.   Inst.   Min.,  Bull.,  46.,  pp.  161-67,  Feb., 
1916. 
Suggestions  for  electrical  research  in  engineering  colleges. — V.  Kara- 
petoff.     A.  I.  E.  E.,  Trans.,  vol.  35,  pt.  2,  pp.  895-910,  May, 
1916.     Discussion,  pp.   911-23. 

Topics   suitable   for   thesis,   research   and   advanced 
study. 
Talk  to  young  engineers. — E.  W.  Rice.     Gen.  El.  R.,  vol.  19,  pp. 
1104-6,  Dec,  1916. 

Abstract   of  address   at   Schenectady.     Problems   to 
be  faced  by  engineers. 
"What  is  a  college  for?"     Letters  from  H.  P.  Boardman.     Eng. 
and  Con.,  vol.  46,  pp.  378-80,  Nov.  1,  1916. 

Reply  to  an  editorial  printed  Sept.  20,  1916. 
What   manufacturers   look  for  in   engineering   graduates. — E.   H. 
Fish.     E.  M.,  vol.  51,  pp.  673-677,  Aug.,  1916. 

More  attention  should  be  paid  to  the  "engineering 
of  men"  and  less  to  the  "engineering  of  materials." 

1917. 
Education  of  the  chemist. — J.  J.  Dobbie.     Elect'n,  vol.  79,  p.  307. 
Educational  reform — its  relation   to   a  solution   of   the  industrial 

deadlock. — C.  V.  Corless.     Can.  Min.  Inst.,  Bui.  No.  68,  pp. 

976-84,  Dec,  1917;  No.  70,  pp.  128-40;  71,  pp.  210-24. 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION        91 

Engineering  graduates  and  industrial  demands. — L.  W.  W.  Morrow. 
Eng.  Ed.,  vol.  8,  pp.  65-74,  Oct.,  1917.  Same.  E.  N.,  vol. 
79,  pp.  1109-12,  Dec.  13,  1917. 

Reply  to  criticism  on  present  educational  methods 
and  engineering  curriculums. 
Engineering  school  and  the  engineer. — F.   E.  Turneaure.     West. 
Soc.   Engrs.,   vol.   22,  pp.  1-16,  Jan.,  1917. 
Development  of  the  engineering  school. 
Engineer's  destiny. — H.  W.  Buck.     A.  I.  E.  E.,  Trans.,  vol.  36, 
pp.  597-601,  Aug.,  1917. 
Presidential  address. 
General  education  for  the  engineer. — E.  E.  Wall.     E.  Cb.  St.  L. 
Jl.,  vol.  2,  pp.  182-187,  May-June,  1917. 
Its  value  and  requirements. 
Indications  of  a  natural   aptitude  for  mechanical  engineering. — 
S.  A.  Moss.     Eng.  Ed.,  vol.  8,  pp.  48-52,  Oct.,  1917. 

Signs  that  should  decide  in  the  selection  of  a  career; 

the  theory  as  applied  to  the  case  of  mechanical  engineers. 

Metallurgy  and  electrochemistry  at  the  University  of  Cincinnati. — 

Thum  and  Davison.     Met.   &   Chem.,   vol.    116,   pp.   367-73, 

April  1,  1917. 

Work  of  these  departments. 
School   of   chemical   engineering   practice — a   year's   experience. — 
W.  H.  Walker.     Jl.  Ind.  &  Eng.  Chem.,  vol.  9,  pp.  1087-89, 
Dec,  1917. 
Some    comments    on    the    training    of    engineers. — A.    C.    Lanier. 

E.  Cb.  St.  L.,  Jl.,  vol.  2,  pp.  307-20,  Nov.-Dec,  1917. 

Some  suggestions  based  on  experience. 
Some  suggestions  for  improvements  in  the  engineering  profession. — 

F.  G.  Jonah.  E.  Cb.  St.  L.,  Jl,  vol.  2,  pp.  159-67,  May- 
June,  1917.  Discussion  by  J.  L.  Van  Ornum,  vol.  2,  pp. 
168-81. 

Considers   the   usual   complaints   and   their  remedy. 
Concluding  that  improvements  must  come  from  within 
the  profession. 
Study    of    engineering    enrollment. — C.    H.    Grough.     Eng.    Ed., 
vol.  8,  pp.  80-91,  Oct.,  1917. 

Curves    showing    data    collected,    with    explanatory 
notes. 
Subjects  recommended  for  inclusion  in  Civil  Engineering  courses 
to  qualify  graduates  to  enter  the  field  of  highway  engineering. 
—A.  H.  Blanchard.     Eng.  Ed.,  vol.  7,  pp.  486-90,  April,  1917. 
Subjects    that    should    be    included    in    a    four-year 
curriculum. 
Training  of  engineers,  Engr.,  vol.   124,  pp.  379-B0,  Nov.  2,  1917. 
Account  of   meeting  in   London   to   discuss   the   de- 
sirability   of    forming    a    Central    Organization    for    im- 
provement of  engineering  training. 


92  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 

"What    becomes    of    your    electrical    engineering    graduates?" — 

D.  D.  Ewing.     Eng.  Ed.,  vol.  7,  pp.  330-35,  Feb.,  1917. 

Study  of  occupational  distribution. 
What  is  best  in  engineering  education. — H.  H.  Higbie.     Eng.  Ed., 
vol.  7,  pp.  491-504,  1917. 

1918. 

An  address  to  graduating  student  engineers. — E.  W.  Rice.     Gen. 
El.  R.,  vol.  21,  pp.  403-7,  June,  1918. 

Importance  of  engineers  in  times  of  peace  and  war 
and  the  education  desirable  to  meet  requirements. 
Broader  foundation  needed  for  engineering  education. — F.  Bass. 

E.  N.,  vol.  81,  pp.  582-3,  Sept.  26,  1918. 

Education  needed  for  present  engineering  demands.     Elec.  Wld., 
vol.  72,  pp.  782-88,  Oct.  26,  1918. 

Abstract   of    Dr.    Mann's   report    on   his   three-year 

study   of   engineering   education.     See   Three-year   study 

of  engineering,  1918,  by  C.  R.  Mann. 

Effect    of    war    on    engineering    education. — C.    R.    Mann.     Soc. 

Prom.  Eng.  Educ.  Bui.,  vol.  9,  pp.  108-18,  Dec,  1918.     Same. 

Eng.   Ed.,   vol.  8,   pp.   231-35,  Feb.,   1918.     Same.     Met.    & 

Chem.,    vol.    18,    pp.    133-34.     Same.     Power,    vol.,    47,    pp. 

217-218,  Feb.  12,  1918. 

War  experiences  analyzed  under  (1)  production  of 
soldiers,  and  (2)  production  of  supplies.  Present  college 
curricula  described  as  aiming  to  impart  knowledge  of 
physical  laws  and  properties  of  materials  exclusively, 
and  as  insufficient  to  develop  men  who  will  accomplish 
reorganization  of  industrial  production  for  which  task 
an  understanding  of  the  methods  by  which  human  wills 
are  co-ordinated  for  team  play  is  essential. 
Electrical  courses  at  the  School  of  Engineering  of*  Milwaukee. 
El.  R.,  vol.  72,  pp.  513-17,  March  23,  1918.  . 

Methods    used    in    teaching    electrical    theory    and 

practice. 

Electrical    testing    course    of    the    General    Electric    Company. — 

M.  Ripley.     Gen.  Elec.  R.,  vol.  21,  pp.  300-12,  April,   1918. 

Engineering  education  affected  by  war  experience. — C.  R.  Mann. 

E.  N.,  vol.  81,  pp.  1068-70,  Dec.  12,  1918. 
Engineering  equipment  at  Hong-Kong  University.        Engr.,   vol. 

125,  pp.  136-8;  164;  168-9;  199-200,  1918. 
Engineering  students;  a  one-string  player. — R.  Matthews.     Sibley 

Jl.,  vol.  32,  pp.  85-7,  March,  1918. 
Engineers  and  the  war. — W.  M.  Black.     A.  I.  E.  E.,  Trans.,  vol. 
37,  pt.  2,  pp.  945-56,  Aug.,  1918. 

Nature  of  the  work  of  the  engineer  and  the  prepara- 
tion required. 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION         93 

Engineers  of  tomorrow. — A.  L.  Waddell.     Iron  T.  R.,  vol.  62,  pp. 

219-20,  Jan.  17,  1918. 
Human  side  of  mining  engineering. — J.  F.  Kemp.     M.  &  S.   P., 
vol.  116,  pp.  825-29,  June  15,  1918. 

Commencement  address  at   the   Missouri   School  of 
Mines-;   on  training  for  personal  relations  in  conducting 
industrial  enterprises. 
Modern  power  plant  education. — C.  A.  Joerger.     Power,  vol.  48, 
pp.  162-63,  July  30,  1918. 

Co-operative  course  for  engineering  students  at  the 
University  of  Cincinnati. 
Norwich  the  oldest  civil  engineering  institution  in  the  country. — 

P.  C.  Ricketts.     E.  N.,  vol.  81,  pp.  1091-2,  Dec.  12,  1918. 
Perspective    in    engineering    education. — C.    C.    Williams.     Eng. 

Ed.,  vol.  8,  pp.  226-9,  1918. 
Present-day   conditions  are  forcing  the  engineer   to   assume   new 
responsibilities. — C.  R.  Mann.     Eng.  N.,  vol.  80,  pp.  208-9, 
Jan.   31,    1918.     Same.     Met,   &   Chem.,   vol.    18,   pp.    133-4, 
Feb.  1,  1918. 
Safety  and  welfare  work  in  the  engineers'  education. — H.  Follows. — 

A.  S.  M.  E.,  Journ.,  vol.  40,  pt.  1,  pp.  545-8,  July,  1918. 
Shall  the  case  method  be  generally  used  in  teaching  engineering. — 
S.  Pritchett.     Eng.  &  Con.,  vol.  50,  pp.  557-8,  Dec.  11,  1918. 
Teaching   human   engineering   in   the   college   curriculum. — F.   H. 

Rindge.     Am.  Mach.,  vol.  48,  pp.  713-15,  April  25,  1918. 
Three-year  study  of  engineering  education. — C.  R.  Mann.     E.  N., 
vol.  81,  pp.  742-51,  Oct.  24,  1918.     Power,  vol.  48,  pp.  646-7. 
Oct.   29,   1918.     Am.   S.   M.   E.  Journ.,   vol.   40,   pp.    1060-1, 
Dec,  1918. 

Proposes,  not  a  standard  curriculum,  but  a  method 

by   which   engineering  colleges  can  construct  courses  to 

meet  present-day  engineering  demands    which  are  fully 

outlined  in  the  report. 

Two-year   engineering   course   urged   by   British    engineer. — E.    J. 

Silcock.     E.  N.,  vol.  81,  pp.  353-4,  Aug.  22,  1918. 

Two-year  engineering  course  urged  by  British  engi- 
neer, to  be  followed  by  three  years  under  Member  of  the 
Institution  of  Civil  Engineers,  would  lead  to  associate 
membership.  Is  an  abstract  of  discussions  of  the  theory 
advanced  by  E.  J.  Silcock  before  the  Institute  of  Water 
Engineers  in  England. 

1919. 

Business   training  for   the  engineer. — A.   Marston.     E.   &   M.   J., 

vol.  108,  pp.  189-90,  Aug.  2,  1919. 
Carnegie  Institute  recasts  course  in  mining  engineering.     Coal  Age, 

vol.  16,  pp.  112-13,  July  17,  1919. 


94  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 

"Case  system"  changes  in  engineering  curricula  and  business 
training  for  engineers.  E.  N.,  vol.  83,  pp.  183-7,  July  24, 
1919. 

Results   at  Army   Engineer   school   at   Camp  A.   A. 
Humphreys  in  applying  definite  problem  method.     Radi- 
cal reorganization  in  methods  of  instruction  effected  at 
Tufts  College  and  Yale  University. 
Co-operative  course  in  electrical  engineering.     Elec.  Wld.,  vol.  73, 

p.  1405,  June  28,  1919. 
Democratizing    French    engineering. — F.    Miltoun.     Iron    T.      R. 

vol.  64,  pp.  704-5,  March  13,  1919. 
Education  and  training  of  municipal  and  county  engineers;  dis- 
cussion.    Eng.  &  Con.,  vol.  51,  pp.  447-8,  April  30,  1919. 
Education  in  engineering.     1919  Iowa  State  College  of  Agriculture, 

Ames,  Iowa. 
Education  of  a  petroleum  engineer. — J.  H.  Felgar.     Mech.  Eng., 

vol.  41,  pp.  816-17,  Oct.,  1919. 
Enginering,   Latin  and  Greek.     E.   &  M.  J.,  vol.   107,  pp.  887-8, 

May  17,  1919. 
Engineering    educators    take    significant    action    at    27th    annual 
meeting  of  S.  P.  E.  E.     E.  N.,  vol.  83,  p.  43.     July  3,  1919. 
Engineering    colleges    and    administration. — I.    N.    Hollis.     Eng. 
Ed.,  vol.  10,  pp.  33-68,  Oct.,  1919. 

Recommends  that  time  of  teacher  be  occupied  with 
administration   as   little   as   possible,    and   that   national 
engineering    societies    co-operate    with    Society    for    the 
Promotion  of  Engineering   Education  and  with  colleges 
themselves   towards   broadening   out   engineering   educa- 
tion. 
Engineering  education. — R.  P.  Baker.     1919.     Wiley. 
Engineering  education. — F.  Swain.     E.  &  M.  J.,  vol.  107,  p.  566, 
March  29,  1919. 
Abstract. 
Engineering  education. — F.  L.  Bishop.     U.  S.  Bureau  of  Education, 

1919. 
Engineering   educators'   opinions  reflect   past   and   predict  future 
conditions.     E.  N.,  vol.  82,  pp.  41-2;  138-43,  Jan.  2,  16,  1919. 
Engineering    school    of    Liege. — C.    Clifton.     Engr.,    vol.    127,    p. 

497,  May  23,  1919. 
Essentials   of   engineering   education. — J.    Flodin.     Ind.    M.,    vol. 

58,  p.  312,  Oct.,  1919. 
How    educational    reconstruction    should     develop. — L.     W.     W. 

Morrow.     E.  N.,  vol.  82,  pp.  827-9,  April  24,  1919. 
Latin  and  Greek  as  preparation  for  engineering. — M.  E.  Cooley. 

E.  N.,  vol.  82,  p.  930,  May  8,  1919. 
Less  theory  and  more  horse  sense  in  structural  engineering  courses. 
— E.  Godfrey.     Eng.  &  Con.,  vol.  51,  p.  575-7,  May  28,  1919. 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION         95 

Liberal   element   in   engineering    education. — F.    Swain.     Eng.    & 

Con.,  vol.  52,  pp.  733-4,  Dec.  24,  1919. 
More  English,  not  Greek  and  Latin. — W.  G.  Raymond.     E.   N., 

vol.  82,  pp.  1176-7,  June  12,  1919. 
Nonessentials   of  engineering  education. — E.   H.   Fish.     Ind.    M., 

vol.  58,  p.  46,  July,  1919. 
Objects  of  structural  engineering  courses. — H.  P.  Gillette.     Eng. 

&  Con.,  vol.  51,  pp.  431-2,  April  23,  1919. 
Opinions  of  practicing  engineers  on  teaching  economics  to  engi- 
neering students.     Eng.  &  Con.,  vol.  51,  pp.  687-8,  June  25, 
1919. 
Practicing  engineers  suggest  lines  of  progress  in  engineering  educa- 
tion; symposium.     E.  N.,  vol.  82,  pp.  473-7,  March  6,  1919. 
Reflections  on  engineering  and  education. — F.  Hayford.     Eng.  & 

Con.,  vol.  52,  pp.  545-7,  Nov.  5,  1919. 
Short    courses    for    engineering    graduates. — J.    O.    Kammerman. 

Power,  vol.  49,  pp.  731-2,  May  13,  1919. 
Some  remarks  on  co-operative  methods  of  engineering  education. — 
V.  Karapetoff.     Eng.  Ed.,  vol.  10,  pp.  101-104,  Nov.,  1919. 

Emphasizes  that  "there  is  no  universal  method  of 
education  applicable  to  large  groups  of  men,  and  that  the 
problem  is  to  keep  on  analyzing  each  student  during 
his  course,  giving  him  such  stimuli  as  he  may  need." 
Writer  believes  that  summer  vacation  would  be  proper 
and  natural  time  for  practical  experience,  or  whole  year 
taken  off  before  senior  year. 
Teaching   pyrometry   in   teachnical   schools. — C.   E.    Mendenhall. 

A.  I.  M.  E.,  Bui.,  vol.  153,  pp.  2143-5,  Sept.,  1919. 
Technical  training. — M.  L.  Requa.     E.  &  M.  J.,  vol.  108,  pp.  63-4, 

July  12,  1919. 
Tendencies  in   engineering   education. — P.   E.   Walker.     Ind   M., 
vol.  58,  pp.  445-7,  Dec,  1919. 

Influences  coming  as  indirect  results  of  war  which 
may  cause  changes  in  engineering  education  are  judged 
to  be  (1)  changed  economic  conditions  affecting  both 
production  and  marketing  of  goods,  and  (2)  impending 
changes  in  governmental  attitude  toward  and  demands 
on  educational  institutions. 
Training  in  Latin  and  Greek  not  best  for  engineers. — R.  Hering. 
E.  N.,  vol.  82,  pp.  1272-4,  June  26,  1919. 

Refuting  M.  E.  Cooley  in  Engineering  News  Record, 
May  8,  1919,  p.  930. 
University  training  for  engineers. — W.  Eliot.     Elec.  Wld.,  vol.  73, 
pp.  683-4,  April  5,  1919. 

1920. 
Canadian    demands    in    engineering    education. — C.    H.    Mitchell. 
E.  N.,  vol.  84,  pp.  369-71,  Feb.  19,  1920. 


96  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 

Co-operation  between  education  and  industry  from  the  viewpoint 
of   the   manufacturer. — R.  D.    Chapin.     Good   Roads,   N.   S., 
vol.  20,  pp.   119-20,   122-3,  Sept.,   1920.     Same  cond.     Auto- 
motive Ind.,  vol.  43,  pp.  278-9,  Aug.  5,  1920. 
Co-operation    between    engineering     schools     and     the     utilities. 

H.  B.  Shaw.     Ind.  M.,  vol.  60,  p.  377-80,  Nov.,  1920. 
Co-operation   between    the    preparatory   schools,    the   engineering 
colleges  and  industries  as  viewed  from  the  standpoint  of  the 
educator.     A.  M.  Greene,  Jr.     Eng.  Ed.,  voL  11,  pp.  5-17, 
Sept.,  1920. 

Co-operation  between  schools   and   colleges  says  the 

author,  is  to  be  obtained  by  more  extensive  and  thorough 

work  in   preparatory   subjects   of   mathematics,    English 

and   sciences   taught   in   school,    and   acceptance   of   this 

work  by  colleges  between  college  and  industry,  he  believes, 

co-operation  will  consist  in  more  thorough  and  intense 

training,    and    special    training    required    for    industrial 

problems. 

A  co-operative  course  in  electrical  engineering  conducted  by  M. 

I.   T.  and  General  Electric  Co.— W.  H.  Timbie.     Eng.  Ed., 

vol.  10,  pp.  459-76,  June,  1920. 

Covers  period  of  five  years,  the  first  two  years  being 
identical  with  the  regular  course  in  electrical  engineering 
at  the  Institute,  and  the  last  three  years  being  divided 
between  instruction  in  theory  at  the  Institute  and  train- 
ing in  manufacturing  methods  at  General  Electric  Com- 
pany. 
Distinctive  features  of  a  co-operative  course  in  engineering. — 
W.  H.  Timbie.     E.  N.,  vol.  85,  p.  119,  July  15,  1920. 

Abstract    of    a    paper    delivered    before    the    annual 
meeting  of  the  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Engineering 
Education. 
Education  of  an  engineer. — R.  W.  Sorenson.     J.   Elec,  vol.  45, 

pp.  112-13,  Aug.  1,  1920. 
Education  of  the  engineer. — R.   S.  Woodward.     Chem.   &  Met., 

vol.  23,  926-8,  Nov.  10,  1920. 
Education  of  the  research  chemist. — R.  E.  Rose.     Journ.  Ind.  & 

Eng.  Chem.,  vol.  12,  pp.  947-51,  Oct.,  1920. 
Effect  of  railway  conditions  on  civil  engineering  curricula. — C.  C. 
Williams.     Eng.  &  Con.,  vol.  54,  pp.   164-6,  Aug.   18,   1920. 
Engineer  in  the  making;  symposium.     J.  Elec,  vol.  45,  pp.  110-12, 

Aug.  1,  1920. 
Engineering  college  vs.  arts  college. — P.  B.  McDonald.     Eng.   & 

Con.,  vol.  53,  pp.  710-11,  June  23,  1920. 
Engineering  education.     M.  &  S.  P.,  vol.  121,  pp.  223-4,  1920. 
Engineering  education. — P.  B.  McDonald.     M.  &  S.  P.,  vol.  121, 
p.  329,  Sept.  4,  1920. 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION        97 

Engineering  education  and  life. — C.   T.   Brady.     E.   N.,   vol.   84, 
pp.  31-2,  Jan.  1,  1920. 

Technical    training,    if    broadened,    should    fit    men 
for  thousands  of  executive  positions  outside  of  engineer- 
ing field. 
The  engineering  educator's  opportunity    in    engineering  organiz- 
ing.    Eng.  Ed.,  vol.  11,  pp.  72-5,  Oct.,  1920. 

Scheme  of  organization  of  engineering  profession 
by  means  of  Federated  American  Engineers'  Societies  is 
explained.  Plan  of  federation  completes  formation  of 
all — inclusive  local  societies  of  engineers  in  important 
communities  and  their  organization  into  federation  for 
action  on  matters  dealing  with  public  service. 
Enrollment  in  engineering  school  greater  than  in   1917.     E.   N., 

vol.  84,  pp.  10-11,  Jan.  1,  1920. 
Linking    the    technical    school   with    the    shop. — H.    R.    Simonds. 
Iron  T.  R.,  vol.  67,  pp.  646-51,  Sept.  2,  1920. 

Plan  adopted  by  M.  I.  T.  in  co-operation  with  the 
General  Electric  Company. 
Metallurgical  courses  for  automobile   field. — H.   V.   Dirks.     Iron 
Age,  vol.  105,  pp.  1245-6,  April  29,  1920. 

Shop  courses  in  foundry,  forging,  heat  treating  and 
similar  work  established  by  Michigan  Agricultural  Col- 
lege. 
Metallurgical  research   department  of  the   Utah   State   School  of 
Mines.— L.  W.  Chapman.     Chem.  &  Met.,  vol.  22,  pp.  877-81, 
May  12,  1920. 
Professional  spirit  in  engineering  education. — C.  R.  Mann.     Eng. 
N.  R.,  vol.  84,  pp.  1242-44,  June  24,  1920. 

Current   schooling,   it  is   said,   is   conspicuously   de- 
signed to  inspire  the  individual  to  make  most  of  himself  for 
the  sake  of  his  own  success,  while  required  training  must 
inspire  individual  to  make  most  of  himself  for  the  common 
good. 
Relation    of    educational    institutions    to    the    industries. — H.    P. 
Talbot.     J.  Ind.  &  Eng.  Chem.,  vol.  12,  pp.  943-7,  Oct.,  1920. 
Robert  college  engineering  school. — L.  A.  Scipio.     Eng.  Ed.,  vol. 

11,  pp.  32-6,  Sept.,  1920. 
Scientific  research   in   the   engineering   schools. — A.   E.    Kennelly. 

Elec.  Wld.,  vol.  75,  pp.  150-1,  Jan.  17,  1920. 
Shop  course  in  metallurgy  at  the  Michigan  Agricultural  college. — ■ 
H.  B.  Dirks.     Am.  Mach.,  vol.  52,  pp.  961-2,  April  29,  1920. 
Some  forces  in  engineering  education. — H.  A.  Watt.     E.  N.,  Vol. 

84,  pp.  771-3,  April  15,  1920. 
Technical  education  through  university  extension. — R.  J.  Heffner. 
J.  Elec,  vol.  44,  pp.  56-7,  .Jan.    L5,    1920. 
4 


98  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 

What  a  production  engineer  should  know. — A.  McDonald.     Ind. 
Man.,  vol.  60,  pp.  185-7,  Sept.,  1920. 

Outlines  requirements  for  course  in  production 
engineering. 

1921. 

Address  to  mining  students. — F.  Laist.     M.  &  S.  P.,  vol.  123,  pp. 
21-6,  July  2,  1921. 

Commencement  address  of   the  Colorado  School  of 
Mines  at  Golden  on  June  10,  1921. 
The  college-trained    engineer. — C.  E.   Magnusson.     A.   I.   E.   E., 

Journ.,  vol.  40,  pp.  730-36,  Sept.  1,  1921. 
Columbia  School  of  Mines  idea. — G.  J.  Young.     E.  &  M.  J.,  vol. 
Ill,  pp.  744-46,  April  30,  1921. 

Six  years'  course  established  by  Columbia  University. 
First  three  years  form  basis  of  liberal  education  and  last 
three  years  are  devoted  to  technical  studies. 
Educating  of  the  mining  engineer. — W.  S.  Weeks.     M.  &  S.  P., 

•     vol.  122,  pp.  321-3,  March  5,  1921. 
Education  of  mining  engineers. — E.  A.  Allcut.     Eng.  &  Ind.  M., 
vol.  6,  pp.  633-37,  Dec.  1,  1921. 

Refers  to  lack  of  co-ordination  in  connection  with 
early  training  of  engineers  and  points  out  discrepancies 
(starting  at  elementary  schools)  with  view  to  their  ulti- 
mate disappearance  or  modification. 
Engineering  college  registration  shows  four  per  cent  gain.     E.  N. 
Rec,  vol.  86,  pp.  1104-6,  June  30,  1921. 

Census  by  Engineering  News  Record  covered  43,312 
students  in  81  institutions  located  in  36  states.     Mechani- 
cal engineering  was  the  most  popular  course. 
Engineering   courses   should   be   of   professional  grade. — H.   Burr. 
Eng.  &  Con.,  vol.  56,  pp.  180-1,  Aug.  24,  1921.     Same     E.  N., 
vol.  87,  pp.  65-6,  July  14,  1921. 

Argues    that    technical    study    should    be    preceded 
by  three  years  of  general  college  work. 
Engineering   education   at   Harvard.     E.   N.,   vol.   86,   pp.   594-5, 

April  7,  1921. 
Engineering  in  Japan. — F.  Mason.     E.  &  M.  J.,  vol.  Ill,  p.  12, 

Jan.  1,  1921. 
Engineering     societies     and     engineering     education. — N.     Hollis. 

Eng.  Ed.,  vol.  11,  pp.  94-135. 
Essentials    of    an    engineering    education. — A.    J.    Wood.     Mech. 

Eng.,  vol.  43,  pp.  420-1,  June,  1921. 
General  education  and  the  engineering  profession. — H.  E.  Miles. 
Mech.  Eng.,  vol.  43,  pp.  517-20;  550,  1921. 

Points  out  lack  of  vocational  schools  in  schools  in 
the  United  States  and  need  for  longer  school  year.  Notes 
on  continuation  schools  and  training  of  teachers. 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION  99 

How  should  the  engineer  be  educated?  Am.  Mach.,  vol.  54,  pp. 
1105-9,  June  30,  1921. 

Views  of  prominent  educators  and  of  employers  of 
engineers. 

Making  better  engineers  of  college  men;  power  to  think  is  more 
important  than  mind  filled  with  facts.  Elec.  W.,  vol.  78, 
pp.  567-9,  Sept.,  1921. 

Michigan  College   of    Mines   in    the   nineteenth   century. — M.   E. 

Wadsworth.     Eng.  Ed.,  vol.  11,  pp.  2306-5,  Jan.,  1921. 
New  engineering  ideals. — I.  O.  Baker.     A.  S.  C.  E.,  Proc,  May, 
1921.     Same.     Eng.  &  Con.,  vol.  56,  pp.  235-6,  Sept.  7,  1921. 
Recent  developments  at  the  University  of  Cincinnati.     E.  N.,  vol. 

87,  pp.  277-9,  Aug.  18,  1921. 
Requirements  of  the  engineering  industries  and  the  education  of 
engineers;  the  Schneider  plan  as  applied  to  the  co-operative 
plan  between  the  General  Electric  Company  and  M.  I.  T. — 
M.  W.  Alexander.     Mech.  Eng.,  vol.  43,  pp.  391-6,  June,  1921. 
Developments  in  organization  of  co-operative  engi- 
neering courses  in  connection  with  manufacturing  plants. 
Plan  organized  at  M.  I.  T.  and  Lynn  works  of  The  General 
Electric  Company.      During  their  assignments  at  works, 
students  are  subject  to  usual  rules  and  regulations 
applying  to  employees  of  General  Electric  Co. 
The    scarcity   of   the   college-trained     engineer   in   production. — J. 
Airey.     Eng.  Ed.,  vol.  11,  pp.  290-97,  Feb.,  1921. 

Suggests  college  engineering  institution  spend  transi- 
tory period  as  foremen  in  factory  instead  of  in  office  or 
laboratory.     This,   it  is   believed,   would  fit   them  better 
to  direct  production  in  industry  properly. 
Scholarship    and    eminence    in    engineering. — R.    Walters.      Eng. 
Ed.,  vol.  11,  pp.  361-77,  April,  1921. 

Study    of    scholastic    training    of    group    of    eminent 
engineers    conducted    under    auspices    of    the    American 
Association   of   Collegiate   Registrars  showed   "close  cor- 
respondence between  good  scholarship  in  collegiate  courses 
and   professional   eminence   in   engineering." 
Technical  education;  Discussion  of  report  of  Committee  on  Tech- 
nical Education,  by  the  New  York  section  of  the  Mining  and 
Metallurgical   Society   of   America,    October  28,    1921.     Min. 
&  Met.  Soc.  of  Amer.,  Bui.,  vol.  14,  pp.  212-36,  Dec.  31, 
1921. 

Training  for  foreign  exploration. — H.  F.  Bain.  M.  &  S.  P.,  vol. 
123,  pp.  55-60,  July  9,  1921. 

Commencement  address,  Missouri  School  of  Mines, 
April  29,  1921. 


100  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 

Training  the  engineer  for  industrial  and  social  service.  E.  N. 
Rec,  vol.  87,  pp.  979-81,  Dec.  15,  1921. 

Two  engineering  educators  discuss  professional  and 
nonprofessional  opportunities  of  the  young  engineer  and 
length  of  course  justified  in  preparing  him  for  service. 
(1)  Projecting  professional  ideas  into  business. — Fred- 
eric Bass.  (2)  Visioning  the  opportunity  of  the  engineer. 
— Hale  Sutherland. 
What  our  engineering  colleges  owe  our  industries. — R.  Matthews. 
Ind.  M.,  vol.  61,  pp.  155-8,  March  1,  1921. 

More  character  building  even  at  expense  of  special- 
ized training  urged  to  supply  industry  with  leaders  who 
have  human  touch. 

1922. 

College  of  Engineering  of  the  Newark  Technical  school.  Chem. 
Age,  vol.  30,  pp.  11-4,  Jan.,  1922. 

The  universities  and  the  engineering  profession. — F.  D.  Adams 
Can.  Inst.  Min.,  Bui.,  vol.  117,  pp.  73-6,  Jan.,  1922. 

Changes  in  engineering  courses  of  instruction. — F.  B.  Sanborn. 
Eng.  Ed.,  vol.  12,  pp.  170-174,  Dec,  1921. 

Development  of  special  courses  in  English  for  engineering  stu- 
dents.— J.  R.  Nelson.  Eng.  Ed.,  vol.  12,  pp.  104-113,  Nov., 
1921. 

Engineering  education;  the  development  of  the  resourceful  mind. — 
J.  G.  Hibben.     Mech.  Eng.,  vol.  44,  pp.  204-205,  Mar.,  1922. 

Engineering  education  as  viewed  by  the  industrialist. — J.  E.  Otter- 
son.  Mech.  Eng.,  vol.  44,  pp.  5-6;  same,  E.  N.,  vol.  88,  pp. 
275-277,  Feb.  16,  1922. 

Later  work,  not  education,  raises  professional  status. — C.  A.  Hol- 
den.     E.  N.,  vol.  87,  p.  949,  Dec.  8,  1921. 

National  policy  on  engineering  education. — A.  G.  Christies.  Mech. 
Eng.,  vol.  44,  pp.  3-5,  Jan.,  1922. 

Training  the  engineer  for  industrial  and  social  service.  E.  N. 
Rec,  vol.  87,  pp.  979-981,  Dec  15,  1921. 

Visioning  the  opportunity  of  the  engineer. — H.  Sutherland.  E.  N., 
vol.  87,  pp.  980-981,  Dec  15,  1921. 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION       101 

ABBREVIATIONS  USED. 

A.  El.  S. — American  Electrochemical  Society.     Bulletin. 

A.  I.  E.  E. — American  Institute   of  Electrical  Engineers. 

Transactions. 
Journal. 

A.   S.   C.  E. — American  Society  of  Civil  Engineers.     Trans. 

A.  S.  M.  E. — American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers. 

Am.  Mach. — American  Machinist. 

Automotive  Ind. — Automotive  Industries. 

Soc.  Prom.  Eng.  Educ.  Bui. — Society  for  the  Promotion  of 
Engineering  Education.  Bulletin.  See  also  Engineering  Educa- 
tion. 

Can.  Min.  Inst. — Canadian  Mining  Institute.     Bulletin. 

Chem.  &  Met. — Chemical  and  Metallurgical  Engineering. 
Formerly  Metallurgical  and  Chemical  Engineering. 

Chem.  Age. — Chemical  Age. 

C.  E.  S. — Cleveland  Engineering  Society.     Journal. 

C.  U.  Q. — Columbia  University  Quarterly. 

E.  &  M.  J. — Engineering  and  Mining  Journal. 

E.  Cb.  St.  L. — Engineers'  Club  of  St.  Louis.     Journ. 

E.  M. — Engineering  Magazine.     Now  Industrial  Management. 

E.  N. — Engineering  News. 

E.  N.  Rec. — Engineering  News-Record. 

El.  R. — Electrical  Review. 

Elec.  Wld.— Electrical  World. 

Elect'n. — Electrician.      (Lond'on.) 

Engr. — Engineer.      (London.) 

Eng.  &  Con. — Engineering  and  Contracting. 

Eng.  Ed. — Engineering  Education.  Bulletin  of  the  Society 
for  the  Promotion  of  Engineering  Education. 

Gen.  El.  R. — General  Electric  Review. 

Good  Roads. — Good  Roads. 

Ind.  M. — Industrial  Management.  Formerly  Engineering 
Magazine. 


102  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 

Iron  Age. — Iron  Age. 

Iron  T.  R. — Iron  Trade  Review. 

J.  Elec. — Journal  of  Electricity. 

Jl.  Ind.  &  Eng.  Chem. — Journal  of  Industrial  and  Engineering 
Chemistry. 

M.  &  S.  P. — Mining  and  Scientific  Press. 

Mech.  Eng. — Mechanical  Engineering,  Journal  of  the  Ameri- 
can Society  of  Mechanical  Engineering. 

Met.    &    Chem. — Metallurgical    and    Chemical    Engineering. 
Now  Chemical  and  Metallurgical  Engineering. 

Min.   &   Met.   Soc.  Amer.,  Bui. — Mining   and   Metallurgical 
Society  of  America.     Bulletin. 

Power. — Power. 

Sibley  J. — Sibley  Journal. 

Soc.  Prom.  Eng.  Ed. — Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Engineer- 
ing Education. 

West.  Soc.  Engrs. — Western  Society  of  Engineers.     Journal. 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION       103 

BULLETINS  OF  THE  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES. 
GENERAL  SERIES. 

Vol.  1,  No.  1,  Dec,  1908.  The  human  side  of  a  mining  engi- 
neer's life.  Edmund  B.  Kirby.  (Commencement  address,  June 
10,  1908.) 

Vol.  1,  No.  2,  38th  Annual  Catalogue,  1909-1910. 

Vol.  1,  No.  3,  June,  1909.  Education  for  utility  and  culture. 
Calvin  M.  Woodward.      (Tau  Beta  Pi  Address.) 

Vol.  1,  No.  4,  Sept.,  1909.  The  history  and  development  of 
the  cyanide  process.     Horace  Tharp  Mann. 

Vol.  2,  No.  1,  Dec,  1909.  The  Jackling  field,  School  of  Mines 
and  Metallurgy. 

Vol.  2,  No.  2,  39th  Annual  Catalogue,  1910-1911.  (Out  of 
print.) 

Vol.  2,  No.  3,  June,  1910.  Some  of  the  essentials  of  success. 
Charles  Summer  Howe.      (Commencement  address,  June  1,  1910.) 

Vol.  2,  No.  4,  Sept.,  1910.  Friction  in  small  air  pipes.  E.  G. 
Harris,  Albert  Park,  H.  K.  Peterson.  (Continued  by  Technical 
Series.     Vol.  1,  Nos.  1  and  4.) 

Vol.  3,  No.  1,  Dec,  1910.  Some  relations  between  the  com- 
position of  a  mineral  and  its  physical  properties.  G.  H.  Cox,  E.  P. 
Murray. 

Vol.  3,  No.  2,  March  1,  1911.  40th  Annual  Catalogue,  1911- 
1912. 

Vol.  3,  No.  3,  June,  1911.  Providing  for  future  generations. 
E.  R.  Buckley.      (Tau  Beta  Pi  address,  May  24,  1911.) 

Vol.  3,  No.  4,  Sept.,  1911.  Fall  announcement  of  courses. 
(Out  of  print.) 

Vol.  4,  No.  1,  Dec,  1911.  Fortieth  anniversary  of  the  School 
of  Mines  and  Metallurgy  of  the  University  of  Missouri.  Parker 
Hall  Memorial  Address.  Laying  of  cornerstone  of  Parker  Hall, 
Rolla,  Missouri,  October  24,  1911.      (Out  of  print.) 

Vol.  4,  No.  2,  March,  1912.  41st  Annual  Catalogue,  1912- 
1913.      (Out  of  print.) 

Vol.  4,  No.  3,  June,  1912.  Mining  and  civilization.  J.  R. 
Finlay.      (Commencement  address,  May  31,  1912.) 

Vol.  4,  No.  4,  Sept.,  1912.  Fall  announcement  of  courses. 
(Out  of  print.) 

Vol.  5,  No.  1,  Dec,  1912.     Student  life. 

Vol.  5,  No.  2,  March,  1913.  42nd  Annual  Catalogue,  1912- 
1913. 

Vol.  5,  No.  3.     Never  published. 

Vol.  5,  No.  4.     Never  published. 

Vol.  6,  No.  1.     Never  published. 


104  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 

Vol.  6,  No.  2,  March,  1914.  43rd  Annual  Catalogue,  1913- 
1914. 

Vol.  6,  No.  3.     Never  published. 

Vol.  6,  No.  4.     Never  published. 

Vol.  7,  No.  1.     Never  published. 

Vol.  7,  No.  2,  March,  1915.  44th  Annual  Catalogue,  1914- 
1915. 

Vol.  7,  No.  3,  June,  1915.  Description  of  special  courses  in 
oil  and  gas  and  allied  subjects. 

Vol.  7,  No.  4,  Sept.,  1915.     Register  of  graduates,  1874-1915. 

Vol.  8,  No.  1,  Jan.,  1916.  Bibliography  on  concentrating  ores 
by  flotation.     Jesse  Cunningham. 

Vol.  8,  No.  2,  March,  1916.  45th  Annual  Catalogue,  1915- 
1916.      (Out  of  print.) 

Vol.  8,  No.  3,  June,  1916.  The  business  of  mining.  W.  R. 
Ingalls.      (Commencement  address,  May  26,  1916.) 

Vol.  8,  No.  4,  Oct.,  1916.  Register  of  graduates,  1874-1916. 
(Out  of  print.) 

Vol.  9,  No.  1,  Jan.,  1917.  Road  problems  in  the  Ozarks. 
E.  G.  Harris.     Bibliography  on  rural  roads.     H.  L.  Wheeler. 

Vol.  9,  No.  2,  March,  1917.  46th  Annual  Catalogue,  1916- 
1917. 

Vol.  9,  No.  3,  June,  1917.  What  should  a  present-day  metal- 
lurgical education  comprise?  Charles  Hermann  Fulton.  (Com- 
mencement address,  May  25,  1917.) 

Vol.  9,  No.  4,  Oct.,  1917.  Register  of  graduates,  1874-1917. 
M.  S.  M.  men  in  military  service. 

Vol.  10,  No.  1,  Jan.,  1918.     Student  life;  revised  edition. 

Vol.  10,  No.  2,  March,  1918.  47th  Annual  Catalogue,  1917- 
1918. 

Vol.  10,  No.  3,  June,  1918.  The  human  side  of  mining  engi- 
neering. James  Furman  Kemp.  (Commencement  address,  May 
24,  1918.) 

Vol.  10,  No.  4,  Oct.,  1918.  (Delayed.)  List  of  publications 
wanted  by  the  library,  and  of  duplicates  available  for  sale  or  ex- 
change, April,  1920. 

Vol.  11,  No.  1,  Jan.,  1919.     Never  published. 

Vol.  11,  No.  2,  March,  1919.  48th  Annual  Catalogue,  1918- 
1919. 

Vol.  11,  No.  3,  June,  1919.  Road  problems  in  the  Ozarks;  2nd 
edition,  revised  and  extended.  E.  G.  Harris.  Bibliography  on 
rural  roads.     H.  L.  Wheeler. 

Vol.  11,  No.  4,  October,  1919.  Register  of  graduates,  1874- 
1919. 

Vol.   12,   No.   1,  Jan.,   1920.     War  service  records  of  the  Mis- 
souri School  of  Mines.     Compiled  by  G.  E.  Ebmeyer. 


MINING  AND  METALLURGICAL  EDUCATION       105 

Vol.  12,  No.  2,  March,  1920.  49th  Annual  Catalogue,  1919- 
1920. 

Vol.  12,  No.  3,  June,  1920.  Contemporary  novels  and  novel- 
ists; a  list  of  references  to  biographical  and  critical  material;  for 
English  421.     H.   L.   Wheeler. 

Vol.  12,  No.  4,  October,  1920.  Department  of  Vocational 
Education. 

Vol.  13,  No.  1,  Jan.,  1921.     Register  of  graduates,  1874-1921. 

Vol.  13,  No.  2,  March,  1921.  50th  Annual  Catalogue,  1920- 
1921. 

Vol.  13,  No.  3,  June,  1921.  Training  for  exploration.  H. 
Foster  Bain.      (Commencement  address,  April  29,  1921.) 

Vol.  13,  No.  4,  October,  1921.  Department  of  Vocational 
Education. 

Vol.  14,  No.  1,  January,  1922.  Symposium  of  Mining  and 
Metallurgical    Education. 

Vol.  14,  No.  2,  March,  1922.  51st  Annual  Catalogue,  1921- 
1922. 

TECHNICAL  SERIES. 

Vol.  1,  No.  1,  Nov.,  1911.  Friction  in  air  pipes.  E.  G.  Harris. 
(Continuation  of  General  Series,  Vol.  2,  No.  4.) 

Vol.  1,  No.  2,  Feb.,  1912.  Metallurgy  and  ore  dressing  labora- 
tories of  the  Missouri  School  of  Mines  and  Metallurgy.  D.  Cope- 
land,  H.  T.  Mann,  H.  A.  Roesler.      (Out  of  print.) 

Vol.  1,  No.  3,  May,  1912.  Some  apparatus  and  methods  for 
demonstrating  rock  drilling  and  the  loading  of  drill-holes  in  tun- 
neling.    L.  E.  Young. 

Vol.  1,  No.  4,  Aug.,  1912.  Friction  in  air  pipes.  E.  G.  Har- 
ris.     (Continuation  of  Vol.   1,  No.   1,  Nov.,   1911.) 

Vol.  2,  No.  1,  Aug.,  1915.  Comparative  tests  of  piston  drill- 
bits.     C.  R.  Forbes  and  L.  M.  Cummings. 

Vol.  2,  No.  2,  Nov.,  1915.  Orifice  measurements  of  air  in 
large  quantities.     Elmo  G.  Harris. 

Vol.  2,  No.  3,  Feb.,  191(3.  Cupellation  losses  in  assaying. 
Horace  T.  Mann  and  Charles  Y.  Clayton. 

Vol.  2,  No.  4,  May,  1916.  Geologic  criteria  for  determining 
the  structural  position  of  sedimentary  beds.  G.  H.  Cox  and  C.  L. 
Dake.      (Out  of  print.) 

Vol.  3,  No.  1,  Aug.,  1916.  Experiments  from  the  flotation 
laboratory.     C.  Y.  Clayton.      (Out  of  print.) 

Vol.  3,  No.  2,  Nov.,  1916.  Studies  on  the  origin  of  Missouri 
cherts  and  zinc  ores.     G.  H.  Cox,  R.  S.  Dean  and  V.  H.  Gottschalk. 

Vol.  3,  No.  3,  Feb.,  1917.  Preliminary  report  on  blended  Port- 
land cement.     E.  S.  McCandiiss. 

Vol.  3,  No.  4,  May,  1917.  Studies  in  the  production  of  oils 
and  tars  from  bituminous  materials.     J.  C.  Ingram. 


106  MISSOURI  SCHOOL  OF  MINES 

Vol.  4,  No.  1,  Aug.,  1917.  The  hydrometallurgy  and  electro- 
lytic precipitation  of  zinc.     F.   D.  James. 

Vol.  4,  No.  2,  Nov.,  1917.  The  effect  of  addition  agents  in 
notation.     Part  I.     M.  H.  Thornberry  and  H.  T.  Mann. 

Vol.  4,  No.  3,  Feb.,  1918.  Bibliography:  Roasting,  leaching, 
smelting,  electric  smelting  and  electrolysis  of  zinc.     H.  L.  Wheeler. 

Vol.  4,  No.  4,  May,  1918.  An  investigation  of  blended  Port- 
land cement.     E.  S.  McCandliss  and  H.  H.  Armsby. 

Vol.  5,  No.  1,  Aug.,  1919.  The  carbonization  of  Missouri 
cannel  coals.     H.  L.  Dunlap,  K.  K.  Kershner  and  V.  X.  Smiley. 

Vol.  5,  No.  2,  Nov.,  1919.  The  effect  of  addition  agents  in 
notation.     Part  II.     M.  H.  Thornberry  and  H.  T.  Mann. 

Vol.  5,  No.  3,  Feb.,  1921.  An  investigation  of  the  xylenes  ob- 
tained from  the  carbonization  of  coal.     W.  D.  Turner.      (In  press.) 

Vol.  5,  No.  4,  May,  1921.  Coal  mining  methods  in  Missouri. 
W.   W.   Weigel. 

Vol.  6,  No.  1,  August,  1921.  The  problem  of  the  St.  Peter 
Sandstone.     C.  L.  Dake. 


0112  105733155 


